The Pangs of Despised Love
by corvus12
Summary: Dave's been watching his best friend and partner grow up ever since they saved each other's lives from Frank D'Amico. Now that Dave thinks he knows what he feels for her it looks like Mindy's moved on with her life. Sometimes coping is a hard thing to do.
1. Chapter 1

**_Notes: This story takes place in the Kick-Ass movie verse but in an AU where Kick-Ass 2 didn't happen. It does not take place in the same universe as my other Kick-Ass stories. I will be alternating the point of view of the time frame of the story between the present time (2014) and various episodes in the life of Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl prior to that and after the original movie._**

* * *

><p><em>May 2014 – the present<em>

What the fuck am I doing here? I graduated last year and I'm standing at the door to the gym watching my best friend at her junior prom. Junior fucking prom! The real kicker is that she doesn't even know I'm here. I shouldn't be here at all. I should be out patrolling the streets or even hanging out with Marty and Todd and pretending like I give a fuck what they're talking about. College entrance or some shit probably if it's not the new Marvel movie coming out. Instead I'm acting like some creepy stalker looking at her and thinking about how goddam beautiful she is.

When did this happen? When did I suddenly realize that my best friend, my partner who's saved my life more times than I can count, was also the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen? Maybe it started after Katie dumped me, but if it did it was only a sneaking suspicion. Something I couldn't - wouldn't - admit to that lived like a caged beast in the back of my mind.

Maybe it was when she turned sixteen. She was so happy. Her smile always could light up a room and that night it was on at its full wattage. Before her party she took me aside and showed me the dress she was going to wear. She did a twirl and giggled, I swear to god Hit-Girl fucking giggled! She smiled at me and said how happy she was, how she finally felt like a grown-up instead of a little girl and maybe something just clicked over in my head.

Maybe it was when she started dating. Started dating *him*. The goddam captain of the soccer team! Can you believe it? The girl who couldn't give a shit about social status in high school or what the fuck anyone thought about her and she was dating one of the most popular jocks in the school. I might be Kick-Ass when I put on the costume, but in school I was still just a zero sum dork named Dave Lizewski. I got some cred for dating Katie, but that died a violent death when she dumped me so publicly in the middle of the school hallway…and the reason? Well, let's just say that it all comes back in a nice little circle. I was persona non grata for months after that what with the rumours flying everywhere. Even Marty and Todd seemed leery about hanging out with me and Mindy? Well let's just say things were complicated between us then and I'm still not sure things have been straightened out.

So there she is, golden hair cascading down her back like liquid honey…no more ponytails for Mindy unless we're sparring. She's wearing a strapless dress, purple of course, and that boy has his goddam arms around her like he owns her. His hands are hovering dangerously close to her ass and I'm just about ready to go before something inside me pops when they turn around as they dance and her little boyfriend looks over and sees me. And he grins. I swear to god he looks me in the eye and grins right at my face before he looks away.

I can feel the rage boiling inside of me, but I'm in control enough to turn around and walk away. The last thing I need to do is ruin her prom by smashing her pissant little boyfriend's head into the gym floor. I stalk down the hallway clenching and unclenching my fists. I walk by a locker and my arm just springs out on its own and smashes into it, denting the thing all to hell. Fuck, that hurt! I stop for a minute to grab my fist and bend over letting the pain course through me, feeding on it, concentrating on only that. I need to get out of here. I need to get out into the fucking city and cause some havoc.

* * *

><p><em>September 2010<em>

"So how was your first day?"

Mindy shrugged. "Could have been worse I guess. Two dip-shits thought they could steal my lunch money so teaching them a lesson brightened things up a bit."

"Yeah I heard about that," said Dave with a smirk. "Guess they would have been a bit more careful if they knew they were picking on Hit-Girl, huh?"

Mindy stopped in her tracks and looked around before giving Dave a glare. "Easy with the secret identity numb-nuts!"

Dave rolled his eyes. "Oh c'mon! There's no one around and anyway all that stuff is over now, right?"

"Over? Does it look like I'm not breathing here or something?"

Mindy started walking again and Dave stood still for a minute more, confused by her response, before hurrying to catch up with her. "What do you mean? D'Amico's dead, right? That was the whole point. Why would you keep on doing this crazy shit?"

Mindy gave Dave a look like he'd grown a second head. "Are you serious?! The world's a fucked up place Dave and my daddy didn't raise me to leave it like that."

Dave put his arm out to stop her. She looked down at it angrily, but when she saw the look on his face she held back the retort she had in mind and waited.

"Look Mindy, I know you loved your dad, and hell if it wasn't for you guys I'd be dead right now, but you can't keep risking your life like this. You're just a kid!"

"Just a kid who took down the biggest crime family in New York! Look Dave, I'm sorry you feel that way. I thought you wanted to help people…well this is the best way I can help them."

"By getting knifed in an alley somewhere? You're acting delusional!"

"No, by wiping crime off the streets so normal people are safe."

"Normal people? We *are* normal people, Mindy."

Mindy cocked her head to the side and smirked. "Now who's delusional?"

They started walking again and Dave shook his head. "Ok, fine so we're a little bit different from other people. I still think we've done our bit for society. Shit Mindy, I'd hate to see you get hurt!"

"Aw that's sweet Dave thanks, but I've already got one over-protective parent trying to steer my life, I don't need it from you too."

"So you're really living with that cop now?"

"Yeah, Marcus. He's my dad's old partner and he looked after me while daddy was in jail."

"Does he know about your, uh…"

"Yeah he knows."

"And he lets you go out and do that shit?!"

"Of course not dumb-ass, I've been staying in for the time being, biding my time, but do you think he's really going to be able to stop me from doing what I want? I know how to play the game. He can think I'm a pretty little princess having a grand old time in seventh grade all he wants while I get out on the down-low and do some good. It'll be a win-win for everyone."

"Does he know about me?"

"What? That you *used* to be a superhero wannabe? No, of course not. I told you: secret identities are sacred, I wouldn't betray that trust."

Dave sighed. "Thanks."

"So since you don't have any interest in fighting the good fight what the hell are you doing following me home anyway?"

Dave shrugged. "I dunno, I just wanted to check in on you. See how your day went. I thought…I thought we were friends."

Mindy seemed surprised as she looked at Dave, she actually stopped again for a minute before starting to walk again.

"Friends? Yeah, I guess…I guess we are."

"Well hey," Said Dave holding out his hands, "I'm not trying to force myself on anyone here. If it's that weird I can just…"

"No! No, it's ok. I just," Mindy looked down at the ground shyly, "I've never had a friend before."

"You've never…? Really?!"

"Shut up! I've been kind of busy ok? I always had Daddy and we had training and our work. It didn't leave a lot of extra time for…other stuff."

"Shit, I'm sorry Mindy."

"Don't be sorry, I don't want your pity party."

"Fuck. I believe you've never had a friend if this is how you treat them."

Mindy stopped and glared at him. If Dave didn't know better he'd almost think she might start to cry. Instead he flinched back, wary of an attack.

Mindy seemed to struggle with herself and he could see her trying to turn the glare into something else. Finally she said, "Look Dave I'd love to be your friend ok? I just…I'm not a normal kid, ok? I thought you of all people would get that. You'll just need to cut me some slack, alright?"

Dave nodded, putting on his best goofy grin and hefting his backpack higher up on his shoulder. "Sure Mindy, don't worry I get it...sort of anyway."

They started walking again and the silence between them was almost comfortable.

"I'll miss you out there."

"Huh?"

"On the streets, moron. I've always had a partner, someone to watch my back. With daddy gone it'll be a whole different game."

Dave snorted. "Me? You said it yourself, I was always just a superhero wannabe. You and Big Daddy were the real deal. I'd probably be more of a hindrance than a help to you out there anyway."

Mindy shrugged. "You saved my ass when it counted."

"Only because you told me what to do. I don't have any of the training you have. I'm just an asshole in a wetsuit out there."

"Yeah, you're green…in more ways than one," she added with a grin. "But you know what? You've got heart. You're one brave motherfucker Dave."

"Yeah?"

"No shit. And you've got potential, even daddy noticed it."

"Really? I always thought he didn't think very much of me. I mean, what was the deal with all that Ass-Kick stuff anyway?"

Mindy snorted. "Daddy's sense of humour was always a bit…off. Look he was a pretty territorial guy and I think the thought of another suit out there doing what we did made him nervous. He didn't want any unwanted attention brought to us and you were all about the attention."

Dave shrugged. "Not on purpose…but I guess it did work out that way."

"Yeah. But you know what? He knew how much bravery it took to do what you did. *Especially* because it was obvious you didn't have any training, not despite it. I think he kinda respected you…even if he did think you were kind of a useless pussy."

Dave smirked. "Gee thanks." Despite his words he felt a warm glow inside. Big Daddy thought he was brave? "Even so, I don't know if I'm of any use to you as anything other than a meat-shield."

"Hey, those can come in real handy when you need them," said Mindy grinning evilly at him. "And maybe right now you're not exactly Batman, but you can change that you know. Anyone can be trained…and like I said: you've got the potential that might make the time worthwhile."

Dave didn't say anything, he just put his hands in his pockets and kept walking, his head down as he seemed to become engrossed in the pavement.

Finally Mindy stopped and Dave didn't even realize she wasn't beside him for several steps.

"This is me," she called from a few feet away.

He turned and saw her standing awkwardly in front of an ordinary looking house.

"Uh, ok," he said, not sure what else to say.

Mindy kicked at the ground then looked at him with a half-smile. "So…see you tomorrow?"

Dave returned her grin. "Yeah, you bet."

* * *

><p><em>May 2014 – the present<em>

Wearing the suit always feels so much better these days. Well, it usually does. When we're out on patrol together it might actually be worse, but now that she's got a 'real' life…you know that thing she scoffed at for years and said was a waste of time? Now that she has one of those I get out on my own a lot more than I used to - despite her constant objections - and then I can just forget. Forget and let go.

Case in point: I am *really* enjoying this dust up with Mr. Let's-pick-on-the-superhero-to-prove-our-street-cred and his crew. These guys must be from out of town because it's been a long time since anyone who knew anything actually had the balls to taunt me about the union suit and what a pussy I looked like.

Unluckily for these guys I am *not* in the mood to take any shit from anyone.

I didn't even bother wasting much time with the first two guys. I just took out my batons and smashed their jaws, followed by a couple of quick kicks to the head as they keeled over. I think they were out cold before they hit the pavement. My dander was up, though, so I decided to play with the third guy before letting myself really enjoying dancing with their mouthy boss.

He pulls out a switchblade, like that's supposed to scare me or something, and I let him take a few swings to gain some confidence.

"You feeling good about yourself?" I say encouragingly.

The thug glares at me and makes another angry swipe. "Never fight angry," I say (with some irony I must admit given that I'm currently furious and running on a full tank of rage).

I grab his arm as it sails past me and twist it before making a nice clean break mid-way through his ulna. He screams as the bone protrudes from his jacket and it gives me a warm fuzzy. I'm feeling so good I decide to twist his injured arm a little more and the blubbering wail that escapes from his frothing lips positively makes my heart sing. I've imagined every injury I've dished out tonight being inflicted on one guy, who unfortunately is not here and who I am never likely to be able to touch in this way, and I'm giddy with vengeful joy at the images floating through my head.

That's probably why I take too much time swinging around the guy I'm currently occupied with and don't see the big boss man coming in from behind to bash me in the head with a lead pipe until it's almost too late. I manage to let go of the guy I'm holding onto and he goes flying into a wall where his face makes a satisfying thwak and then I curl forward enough that the pipe hits me in the shoulder instead of the head. It still hurts like a son of a bitch.

I lash out with more speed than the asshole is expecting and grab onto the pipe. He looks like a big guy and his blow showed that he's strong, but I'm stronger. I prove it by twisting the pipe out of his grip and following through with a backhanded swing that sends him sprawling on the ground.

I throw away the pipe and walk over to him as he struggles to get up.

"Fuck…fuck," he pants, "I'm sorry dude, you're fucking hard core. Man you fucking owned us…I admit it! I'm sorry!"

"Yeah me too," I growl. "You picked the wrong fucking night to try and be a big goddam bully. I am going to hurt you so much you'll remember it for the rest of your miserable little life…however long that might be."

The guy actually whimpers and if I was in a healthier state of mind I might have actually had some pity on him, but all I can see right now is Trevor grinning at me from across her shoulder and I want to dish out some fucking serious pain.

The fear in his eyes is sending a wave of endorphins through my body. Fuck, I don't think I've ever been this angry. I don't think I ever really understood how Mindy felt sometimes when she was out here wading in blood until recently. Now it's all I have. I know what it's like to need the violence to keep me sane…or at least to keep me level. I don't think I'd even be able to function as Dave right now if I didn't know I had this waiting for me on the other side.

"C'mon man, you're a hero, right? How can you do this to me? I said I'm sorry…I surrender!"

"Do I look like the fucking cops?!" I bark. "You want to go prowling around alleys and pick on civilians to get your kicks? Fine. Then you pay the piper when he comes calling asshole."

His eyes get a harder edge to them when he realizes I'm not going to back down. I gotta respect that even if I think he's a worthless scumbag who'd rather just prey on the weak.

"Tell you what," I say stepping back and opening my arms. "I'll give you the first hit. I won't even count that sucker blow with the pipe. What d'ya say tough guy? That fair enough for you?"

He doesn't waste his time on an answer, just launches himself at me and tries to grapple me to the ground. Not a bad move all things considered…I was expecting a punch, so he catches me off-guard. Luckily for me I've trained to get out of pretty much any hold someone can dish out and this guy is so scared he's almost pissing himself. I think he's just hoping to get me out of the way so he can get the hell out of here. I have no intention of letting him move one step out of this alley.

As he tries to push me into a wall to knock the wind out of me I grab him by his torso and lift him as I heave myself backwards. I slam into the ground, but he he's so shocked that he let's go and goes flying, his back smashing against the wall he was hoping to use.

I quickly roll to my feet, ignoring the pain, and walk slowly towards him. He's lying on his side gulping in breath with heavy gasps. "Please dude…I'm sorry…"

I grab him by his greasy hair and pull his head up. I swear to god I'm looking Trevor in the face. "You can fucking die for all I care asshole!"

I smash his face against the wall again and again. I hear his teeth crunch and after about the fourth time his arms and legs stop flailing. I keep smacking his head into the brick and there's a smear of red paste and bone matter on the wall before the low whistle and clapping I hear behind me brings me back to myself.

"Holy shit Ass, I gotta say I appreciate the gusto there! I don't often see you let loose like that. What'd he do, try and rape a little girl?"

I stand up in shock as I watch Hit-Girl walk into the alley. I feel a sense of guilt and shame steal over me before I remember that I haven't actually been smashing the face of her boyfriend into a brick wall. "What? No, he, uh…he pissed me off."

She looks around at the rest of the bodies sprawled out across the alley. "Wow. You really let yourself go tonight, huh?"

I shrug. There's not really much on point that I can say that is going to sound good here.

"I wish you wouldn't go out on your own you know. You could get into some serious trouble, especially if you're taking on four guys at a time regularly."

"I can take care of myself," I say. "I didn't have anything better to do tonight anyway."

Hit-Girl smiles. "I had a great night."

"That's nice," I say, not really inviting any further info.

"Yeah," she sighs. "Don't you remember it was my junior prom? I thought I might see you tonight." Well thank god at least her little fuck-face boyfriend didn't tell her he saw me gawking at her. "Trev got a limo and corsage and everything. It was just like I had imagined."

"Oh yeah?" I say arching my eyebrow. "I didn't know you were wasting time imagining shit like that." It comes out a bit harsher than I intended. I think.

A spark of anger flashes across Mindy's eyes and I'm almost happy, hoping for a fight, before it's replaced by something else. "Kick-Ass? What's wrong?"

Fuck. Is she going to be worried about me after I've gone to all this trouble to piss her off? Well, I'm too angry to reign myself in at this point so I go for broke.

"Wrong? Nothing's fucking wrong. I'm following the example of my mentor aren't I?" I sweep my arms across the carnage around me. "While she's out dancing to whatever crap the kids are listening to these days I might add. Aren't you impressed?"

Mindy looks uncomfortable. "You don't need to impress me Ass. You know I respect you."

I close my eyes. I did *not* need to hear that. I don't want her fucking *respect*.

She gives me a look. "What flew up your ass anyway?"

"Oh nothing," I respond, "I just remember being told what a waste of time my life was every time I brought up stuff like that to you. I never thought I'd see the day Hit-Girl was swooning over a high school dance. Did they play Justin Bieber?"

"Fuck, Ass can't you at least pretend like you care here? I had a nice night, ok? Haven't you been telling me for years that I needed to live outside of the mask? Well, here's me saying you were right. Enjoy it."

"Fine," I manage to mutter. "I'm surprised you even managed to come out."

Mindy smirks. "I know. It wasn't until I told Trevor that I had to go on patrol and make sure you didn't do anything stupid that he even let me go."

My stomach drops and I swear that the alley starts spinning when I hear her say that. My reaction makes her realize what she said and she mutters, "Fuck" as her eyes go wide.

"You…you told him who you are?"

She nods. "Sorry Ass, I meant to tell you I just…"

She just stares at me watching as I start to shake. I don't think her telling me they fucked would even be this bad. It was the last thing I had - we had - and now it's his too. I think I'm going to be sick.

"C'mon Kick-Ass, did you think I would never tell him?"

Now his look at me in the gym makes so much more sense. I'm not just Mindy's weird older friend who she used to hang out with. I'm her partner in her secret life and despite all that he's won her.

"And what did you tell him about me?" I almost whisper.

She looks like she's been caught out, but she musters herself quickly. "Nothing, ok? But…"

"But…?"

"But it didn't take too much for him to put two and two together. It just went off in his head like a light bulb. He said he *knew* there must be a reason I still hung out with you."

I clench my teeth. "Mother puss bucket!"

"C'mon he was just joking," she says weakly.

I look at her and she actually steps back at the look in my eyes. "FUCK! How could you do that to me?"

"Dave, shit c'mon, what the hell is wrong with you?"

"Code names!" I bellow at her. "Rule fucking number one *Hit-Girl*!"

Now she looks hurt. And mad.

"What is your fucking damage *Kick-Ass*?!"

"My damage? My damage is that I don't have a fucking partner who's got her head in the game because she's swooning over goddam little boys at school and letting them in on my secret fucking identity!"

"What. The. Fuck?! And I suppose that's different from you carrying around a hard-on for Katie 'captain of the cheerleaders' Deuxma how exactly?! I mean how long did you fucking wait to tell that slut who you were so you could get in her pants?!"

"That was *my* identity and I learned from that one fucking mistake. You'd think you might have picked up the lesson since you're so goddam smart! Who have I even looked at since then?"

"Well you sure as hell carried it around, on patrol even, for long enough that's for sure!"

"Well it got stamped out pretty goddam effectively due to 'more important things', didn't it?!"

She widens her eyes. "You are *not* blaming me for that!"

"If the shoe fits!"

"You fucking asshole!"

"Me?! Oh, right. I was just the one creeping around my senior year with the label 'pedophile' hanging on my back all because I had to protect someone's secret identity. I suppose that was my fault was it?! I got a lot of fucking support from *all* of my friends then, didn't I?!"

She steps back, looking like she's been stung. "You said…you said I should keep my distance. That it was better for everyone."

"Yeah I didn't fucking mean you had to ignore me and become captain of the fucking pep squad!"

She looks up at me, biting her lip. "What's going on Kick-Ass? What's this about?"

I step back, realizing what I have to do. "It's about decisions."

She glances up at me, her arms crossed over her chest. "What does that mean?"

I sigh. "It means I think it's time I did something that's been a long time coming."

"What's that?"

"Said good-bye."

She stands there staring at me for a minute as if she didn't hear me. Either that or she doesn't believe me.

Finally she says, "Good-bye? What does that mean?"

I try to soften my features. "It means 'good-bye'. I've got to figure out my life Hit-Girl and there's just too many damn…distractions here."

"Where…where would you go?"

I shrug. "I dunno. I have a few ideas. Does it really matter?"

She looks at me like I've gone crazy. "Does it matter?! How can you fucking say that?! Of course it matters. What about us? What about Hit-Girl and Kick-Ass?"

"I think we've had a good run. You certainly don't need me anymore and I need…well, I don't really know what I need, except maybe some space."

She still looks confused and worried. "What did I do wrong? Why are you so mad all of a sudden? Why do you want to throw this all away?"

I walk up to her and it's all I can do to keep myself from taking her in my arms and telling her everything I've been feeling. But that would be selfish and I've already been selfish enough tonight. Anyway, it would just cloud the issue and wouldn't be doing either of us any favours. It certainly wouldn't salvage the partnership of Hit-Girl and Kick-Ass.

Instead I just look at her. "You haven't done anything wrong Mindy, I have. I forgot that I need to grow up and figure my own shit out. That's not on you, it's on me. I'm sorry…for what I said."

Before she can respond I turn around and climb up the nearest fire escape. I don't think I can handle looking at her anymore.


	2. Chapter 2

_October 2010 – the past_

"Are you kidding? It was nowhere near as good as the comic!"

Dave rolled his eyes. "You say that about everything Marty. I thought they did a pretty good job putting _Scott Pilgrim _on the screen. I mean that was a pretty hard thing to translate and they did it really well. They actually managed to make it a lot like the comic without being a panel-by-panel copy like _Watchmen_ was!"

Marty shrugged. "Whatever. At least that chick that played Envy Adams was hot!" He waggled his eyebrows for effect.

"Yeah, leave it to you to find the real redeeming quality in any film."

"You mock Lizewski, but I know you were wanking to her for at least a month after we saw the movie!"

"Fuck Marty, do you have any class at all?"

"As a matter of fact I have math next period, and I'll be late if you don't hurry up and finish your lunch!"

Dave shook his head and looked down at his tray, then glanced at the cafeteria line where he saw Mindy standing with her tray. She stopped and looked around for a minute, looking more out of place than he ever thought he'd see Hit-Girl in any situation.

A smile came over his face and without thinking he sat up and waved her at her, motioning her over towards their table. Mindy returned his smile when she saw him waving and started towards them.

Marty and Todd turned around to see who he was looking at.

"Who the fuck is that?" asked Marty giving Dave a strange look.

"She's just a friend. Be nice to her, ok?"

"A friend? Isn't she a little young for you Dave? I mean you already bagged Katie - god only knows how – why do you feel the need to make time with a…what is she, six-year-old?"

"Fuck you Marty, she's twelve, ok? And we're just friends. She's new here and she feels a little out of place." He gave his friend a hard stare. "Be fucking nice to her or there'll be a problem, got it?"

Marty held up his hands placatingly. "Jeez, alright big brother, I'll be nice. I just didn't realize we were hanging out with children now."

By this time Mindy had walked up to their table and gave Marty a calculating look. "I see you have an open door policy on pompous windbags in your extremely elite group of comic book nerds though."

Marty's eyes goggled. "Wh-what?"

"Wow, really quick on your feet too, aren't you Stay-puft?" She sat down beside Dave and gave Marty another look before grimacing at the food on her tray.

Dave grinned. "How you doing Mindy? This is Todd," his friend nodded and Mindy returned it with a grin. "And you've already met Marty."

She glanced at him. "Yeah, Mr. Congeniality. I'll try not to mess up your totally adult vibe with my precocious childishness."

Marty grinned despite himself. "O-kay then. I gotta give you props kid, you're a real firecracker."

Dave shook his head. "Marty? You have no idea."

Dave and Mindy shared a secret smile before digging into their lunches without another word.

* * *

><p><em>May 2014 – the present<em>

The banging on the door can only be her. Luckily my dad is at home so he answers it.

"Well, hey Mindy. What can I do for…"

"Where the hell is Dave?!"

"I…excuse me?"

She sighs audibly. "Sorry, I just really need to talk to Dave and he's not at Atomic Comics and Marty and Todd haven't seen him. Is he in here?"

"Sorry sweetheart, Dave's not here. And before you ask, I don't know where he is. He stepped out and isn't generally in the habit of giving me his itinerary. You know how young men are."

"Yeah, really I kinda don't – like, at all."

"Is something wrong? You don't need to fidget on the doorstep you know."

"I just…he said," she heaves a heavy sigh. "Mr. L., is Dave leaving?"

"Leaving? As in the city? Well now, this is the first I've heard about it, but it is about time he started thinking about his future. Between you and me I think he's been cooped up in this house for too long and it's time for him to make some decisions. He graduated months ago for heaven's sake! Why…did he say something to you?"

"He said, well he said 'good-bye'. It sounded really…final."

"Sweetheart, I wouldn't worry too much about it. I really don't know what Dave has in mind, but I'm sure when he's ready to talk he'll let you know what he's thinking. Tell you what? If I see him I'll be sure to tell him you were looking…and to make sure he knows he'd better come see you before too long, ok?"

"Yeah…thanks Mr. L."

"No problem sweetheart. You take care now, ok?"

The door closes and I wait a minute or two before peeking around the corner of the kitchen doorway. Of course my dad is standing there staring right at me.

He raises his eyebrow. "So I'm lying for you now…to your best friend?"

I shrug and slink into the living room. "I know you don't like it, but I just can't handle seeing her right now. Thanks for covering for me."

"Well, don't expect a repeat performance. What the heck are you doing telling that girl you're leaving town? Where did this come from?"

I heave myself onto the couch and shrug again. "I just…I need some space, dad. As you so tactfully put it I've been cooped up in here too long and it's about time I made some decisions about my life."

Dad sits down next to me. "I don't disagree, but from the sound of it you're not making decisions, you're running away from something. What's wrong, son?"

I play with the fringe on one of the pillows. "It's…complicated."

"It always is."

When I don't say anything for another minute he continues. "Look, that's how life is and it's only going to get more complicated as time goes on. Trust me…you've just ended the easy part of your life, son."

I slam my head back onto the couch and stare at the ceiling. "Fuck me. It gets harder? High school was a freaking mess and that was the easy part?!"

"I'm afraid so."

We're both silent for another minute.

"You sure you don't want to talk about it?"

"Thanks dad, I just need to sort it out in my own head first…maybe later, ok?"

He puts his hand on my knee and then stands up. "Alright. Just one thing."

I look up at him.

"That's a really special girl there and I think she deserves more than a 'good-bye' before you duck out of town because something's got you spooked. I think I might have some idea what's going on and frankly if I'm right it's not a pleasant situation, but that girl has been through thick and thin with you. The last thing you need to do is trash a friendship like that because of…other issues."

I cover my face with my hands. "Yeah thanks…I needed to be reminded of how special she is dad because I was totally unaware of it."

He squeezes my shoulder. "It'll all work out somehow son, trust me."

"Yeah, thanks dad."

After he's gone I continue wallowing for another half hour before I finally decide I better get out and do *something* today. If I'm really going to get out of town I better figure out exactly where I'm going and what the hell I'm going to do.

I pull out my cell and hit the speed dial. "Marty? Yeah, what's up? You got a second?"

_"Shit Dave, what'd you say to her?"_

"Who?"

I can actually hear his eyes rolling. "_Who do you think dip-shit? Mindy. She came by on the fucking war-path - I mean more than usual - and I think when she finds you you'll be walking funny for at least a week."_

"Yeah I know. Look, that's what I want to see you about. Do you have some time?"

_"Heh, let me see if I can clear my busy schedule for you. Oh look, a whole afternoon has just cleared up! Where do you want to meet?"_

"Somewhere she can't find me. How about Queens at that diner?"

_"Fuck. That bad, is it? Ok, see you in an hour?"_

"Sounds good. Thanks Marty."

* * *

><p><em>December 2010 – the past<em>

School had just let out for the Christmas break and Dave made his way through the press of students making for the exit. He saw a familiar blonde head in front of him and had just picked up his pace when he heard a voice behind him.

"Dave? Dave! Where are you going?"

He turned around to see Katie standing next to her locker, a confused look on her face. He glanced back at the door where the blonde head was just disappearing and then looked at Katie again. "Uh…I have to get home. My dad needs me for something. I'll call you tonight, ok?"

Without waiting for a reply, and ignoring the look of consternation he saw pass across her features, Dave plunged into the crowd ahead of him and finally made his way outside. Once there he cut across the school lawn in order to cut off Mindy on her normal route home.

Mindy obviously had somewhere to be, he could see that she was already far ahead of him and he stepped up the pace, stumbling against some rocks and tree roots as he ran through the small park on the corner. He tried jumping the small chain fence that bordered the sidewalk and nearly took a header when his foot got caught on a loose link. He spun around, waving his arms like an idiot until he finally stopped himself, turning full circle to see Mindy grinning up at him.

The petite girl gave him a slow clap. "Bravo, boy wonder. You ought to join the circus with an acrobatic act like that! And to think that I'll have to do without that grace and precision out on the streets."

Dave grinned sheepishly. "Heh…yeah. Actually that's kinda why I wanted to catch up with you."

"Oh? What's up?"

"Well, I've been thinking about what you said and I'd like to give it a shot."

Mindy squinted at him. "I'm afraid you'll have to be a bit more specific Dave, I've said quite a lot of things and I'm not sure what you're talking about. Is this about me telling you to start reading _American Vampire_?"

Dave shook his head. "No it's about that…" he looked around to see if anyone was nearby, "…other thing!"

Mindy crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Ok, you suck at charades and you even get to speak while doing it. Just cut to the chase Dave, what are you talking about?"

"Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl!" said Dave in exasperation, his arms going wide.

Mindy's eyes widened and she did a quick check for anyone nearby herself. "Fuck Dave! Why don't you just yell it in the middle of the street?!"

"Sorry!" he said in a harsh whisper. "I thought you were fucking with me again."

Mindy gave him a dubious look. "What about Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl? Are you saying you want to get back out there?"

Dave nodded. "Yeah. I mean…I've been thinking about what you said. You know, about helping people. And training. And stuff. I think, well, if you're willing to help me out, that maybe I could do it."

"This isn't a maybe kind of thing Dave. Do or do not, there is no try. You're either in for the long haul or you're out. I don't need some tourist who wants to wear spandex trailing me around. It's hard enough looking after myself out there, I can't afford to be babysitting you too."

"Understood. I'm in. I mean heck…you said yourself you could use a partner right?"

"This is going to take up a lot of your time Dave. I need *full* commitment."

"I know, I'm totally there. I figured since it's the start of the break maybe we could even spend most of our days on an, I don't know, accelerated program or something."

Mindy held out her finger. "And I reserve the right to tell you to get lost because you suck."

Dave's face was crestfallen. "But…I thought you said I had potential."

"Potential's one thing, results are another. We'll see how it goes once you're in the Hit-Girl school of vigilante arts."

Dave sighed. "Fine…you're the boss."

Mindy grinned wickedly and held out her hand. "Alright, put it there 'partner'. This oughta be fun!"

Despite himself Dave grinned along with her, though his was tinged with trepidation. When Mindy smiled like that it rarely boded well for her target.

* * *

><p><em>May 2014 – the present<em>

Marty's sitting at our regular booth, eyeing the waitress and I think he's already on his second cup of coffee.

"Decided to show up did you? What happened, did you have to make sure the tiny terror wasn't shadowing you?"

I give him my best 'what do you think?' look. "You're closer to the truth than you'd probably believe. I had to double back a few times to make sure I wasn't being followed."

Marty's eyes widen. "Shit! I was just joking Dave, what the fuck is going on with you?"

I take a minute to order a coffee and then wait for the waitress to leave before I turn back to Marty. "Things are…complicated. And I just don't need to deal with Mindy badgering me right now."

"Sounds to me like you brought it on yourself. From what she told me you kind of blind-sided her. I mean what the fuck does 'good-bye' even mean? You planning on going somewhere and didn't feel like telling anyone?"

I sigh. "Look, I kinda came to a spontaneous decision last night and I'm standing by it. I gotta get the fuck outta here before I lose it."

The waitress comes with my coffee and I smile my thanks before taking a sip. Marty is just looking at me dubiously. "Well, I've been waiting for this shoe to drop since she started dating that turd on the soccer team. I didn't think it would drive you out of the city though."

"What do you mean you've been waiting for this?"

Marty shakes his head. "Dude. It's been obvious for like at least a year that you've had it bad for Mindy."

I try and muster my most offended look. "What do you mean?! A year?! Give me a break! Mindy and I have just been friends."

"Yeah, yeah, sell it to someone who's gonna buy it, pal. Look, don't get me wrong, Mindy's totally hot now, I agree, even if she is kinda young."

I shake my head in disgust. "Right, of course. Trust you to see right to the heart of the issue Marty."

He raises his hands placatingly. "Now settle down Dave. I know you have 'feelings' for her, I'm just getting the obvious out in the open, ok? Shit, you've been closer with her than you have with *me* for years now. I mean when was the last time you guys weren't hanging out together?"

"At least half of last year actually," I say with a clenched jaw.

Marty grimaces. "Yeah, well that was an unfortunate situation wasn't it?"

I glare at him. "Yeah, real unfortunate. I guess that all feeds into what you're saying now?"

"What?! No! C'mon Dave, everyone with a brain knew that was all just bullshit spilled out of Katie's mouth, ok? And even if it *had* been true," he gives me an alarmed look when I glare daggers at him, "which I'm totally NOT saying it was, then it would have been understandable."

"Fuck, I did not come here to talk to you so I could feel worse Marty. Thanks a bunch!"

"Dave? I don't even know what the hell is going on here, ok? I'm trying, but I can't really give you much advice out of a void."

I run my fingers through my hair and close my eyes. "Yeah, I'm not even sure I know what the hell is going on myself. All I know is I used to enjoy every minute I spent around her and now I can't get near her without wanting to crawl out of my skin. And that Trevor kid? Fuck I'd gladly run his damn head through a brick wall."

"I hear you brother. He is kind of a putz, isn't he? I mean what does she see in him? Well, aside from the looks, and the athletic build, and the money his folks have, and the popularity and…um, I'm not helping am I?"

"Fuck," is all I can mutter.

There's an uncomfortable silence for a few minutes before Marty decides to speak again.

"So…where are you planning on going? Last we talked you hadn't made any applications to colleges. You think you're going to just drop yourself in a new city and start working or something?"

"It had crossed my mind. College never really seemed…important before. I had…other things keeping me occupied." I'm being purposely evasive since Marty still doesn't know about my double life. Mindy and I agreed we should keep that secret away from as many people as possible – with the exception of Katie on my part…and apparently Trevor on Mindy's. Now of course I'm thinking that asking Marty to come here was a big mistake. What the hell am I even going to tell him anyway?

"Yeah? Like what? You always were pretty damn busy…with Mindy. What the heck were you two up to all the time anyway?"

I shrug. "I dunno. Friend stuff. Hanging out. You know how it is."

"Actually I don't."

"Oh please. You and Todd are almost never seen without each other."

Marty shrugs. "I guess, but there was something different between you and Mindy, this look in your eyes like you had a big secret. I mean don't bite my head off here, but you can kind of see how the rumours got traction, can't you?"

Looking back I have to admit that yes, yes I can. And given the thoughts swirling in my brain these days maybe there was more truth to them then even I knew at the time - in thought, if not in actions. I sigh. "Yeah. I guess I can."

"So now you want to run away do you?"

"Shit you sound like my dad."

"That's me, father-figure Marty! Have you even told Mindy what you feel?"

I stir my spoon in my coffee, staring into its depths. "No."

"Why not?"

I look up at him from under my brows. "Are you kidding? So I can verify the rumours after the fact? It took me long enough to shake them and she doesn't need me making her some kind of joke or pariah in her last couple years of high school. It's hard enough without that."

Marty nods. "Ok, that's actually not a bad reason…but don't you think she'd still want to know? You're her best friend and now you just want to split. Do you think that's going to make her feel good?"

"Maybe not. But she's just got her life on track, found something normal she can hold onto."

"Normal? What the fuck does that mean? How has her life not been normal? I mean, I know her parents died and she had to live with that cop, but c'mon I'm sure she's pretty much dealt with that by now."

"It's…it's complicated Marty. Just trust me. Mindy hasn't had a lot of normal in her life and I don't want to take away what she's found from her."

"So you're not a normal part of her life?"

"I think you could say I'm one of the least normal parts of it."

"O-kay." He looks at me dubiously, but thankfully doesn't argue the point.

"So is this just me agreeing with you that leaving is the best thing to do?"

"Yeah, I was kinda hoping for that."

"Well, I'll tell you that if it'll make you feel better, but between you and me? I think that's bullshit."


	3. Chapter 3

_December 2010 – the Past_

Dave hit the floor face first and let out a loud grunt. "Oh fuck me…"

"Heh, no such luck Dave, I'm too young for you. Now, you ready to go again? You're doing well."

Dave dragged himself off the mat and somehow managed to get into a more or less standing position. "I am?" he squeaked. "You could have fooled me. All I've managed to do is land on the floor in about twelve different ways."

"True, but you're learning to fall properly. It's funny how important that can be."

"Yeah, real funny," he muttered as he raised his hands into a guard position and waited for his attacker to lay him out again.

He actually countered her next swing and was starting to feel proud of himself when his feet suddenly fell out from under him and he landed on his back with a loud "Ooof!"

He lay looking at the ceiling of the safe house for a minute before seeing Mindy's grinning face come into his field of view. She held out a hand for him and helped heave him back to his feet.

"You're looking in the wrong place," she said, then raised two of her fingers towards her eyes. "Look at these, not these," she said as she started waving her arms. "You want to know what I'm going to do, or where I'm going to attack? Then look me in the eyes. They're the only true tell you're going to get…if you're lucky."

Dave nodded. "Right, ok. The eyes."

"One more time," she said and then immediately proceeded to make a feint for his face before moving in with another leg sweep.

"Fuck!" Dave cried, but managed to not be fooled by the feint and jump back awkwardly in time not to be taken by the sweep. Unfortunately his jump had left him unsteady on only one leg and Mindy easily drop kicked him to the floor in her next fluid motion.

"Nice!" she said with a smile. "You're learning."

Dave shook his head from his now accustomed place on the floor. "Yeah, at this rate I'll be ready to fight some old grannies in the next six months or so."

"Aw Dave, stop whining like a pussy. This'll take some time and we're only on day one." She moved over to the edge of the mat and picked up her towel, though Dave wasn't quite sure why since he hadn't exactly made her work up much of a sweat. He, on the other hand, was nearly drenched through his t-shirt.

She grinned at him as she reached down and then threw him his towel. "Look, I've been training to be a ninja assassin since I was five. You put on a wet suit and decided to let yourself get beat on. It'll take some time for you to get up to speed."

Dave wiped down his face and neck. "Yeah…I just hope I'm still young enough to do any good when I get there."

Mindy looked at him. "Attitude. That's step one ok? You keep thinking you suck and you will. From now on you are a stone cold killer in training and nothing's going to stand in the way of that, right?"

Dave nodded. "Sure, ok."

Mindy pushed him. "Hey I mean it Dave! We aren't fucking around here. I'm going to be depending on you out there. I need to know your head is in the game."

Dave nodded. "Yeah, you're right. It is."

She held his gaze for a minute then nodded. "Ok. Look my dad and I were right. You've definitely got potential and I think you're going to make it. Stick with me and we'll make a bad-ass fighter out of you yet."

Dave wiped some more sweat off his face and then looked around at his surroundings for a minute, taking everything in. "Mindy?"

"Yeah?"

Dave shrugged. "Just thanks. I really appreciate the faith you have in me. It's nice to feel like I might actually be able to do something useful with my life…even if it is totally fucking crazy."

Mindy grinned. "Shit Dave, don't go getting all soft and weepy on me now, ok? And anyway, us psychos have to stick together, right?"

* * *

><p><em>May 2014 – the Present<em>

Marty and I walk out of the diner and get about three steps before a voice makes me blanch and stop in my tracks.

"What's this, your secret he-man woman-hater clubhouse?"

Both of us turn to see Mindy leaning against a nearby wall, her arms crossed over her chest.

Marty looks at me, then back at Mindy. "Um…yeah. Hi Mindy. You know what? I have this…thing…I need to go to now. See ya guys."

I shake my head. "Thanks a lot Marty."

Marty shrugs. "Hey this is your thing. I think you two need to, um, talk and stuff."

Marty starts walking and then turns around. "Mindy? Leave him the use of at least one of his legs, ok?"

Mindy's gaze never wavers from my face as she replies. "I'll consider it. See you later Marty."

We look at each other across the pavement for a few more minutes before Mindy says, "So you've got your dad lying for you now do you?"

I run my hand through my hair. "Aw, don't hold it against him. He did it under duress and he made it clear he's not going to do it again. So…you followed me from home did you? I thought I did a pretty good job of ducking any possible tails."

Mindy huffs. "You're good Dave, but I'll always be better. It's not exactly hard for me to follow anyone unseen if I really want to."

I roll my eyes. "Yeah, I should have figured you'd staked out my house and that I didn't need to bother trying to get some damn time to myself."

Mindy's eyes bulge. "Oh, I'm sorry! You're the injured party here, are you?"

Shaking my head I say, "Fuck Mindy, I'd hardly say I injured you."

"Fuck Dave, you really can be an asshole sometimes, you know that?"

I throw my arms up in the air. "Fine! I'm an asshole. I'm the bad guy, can you just give me a break?!"

Mindy clenches her jaw. "Dave…please, just fucking talk to me. What the hell is going on with you? Are you really going to tell me that saying you're leaving town for no goddam reason out of the blue is just some normal thing I should friggin' ignore?! And then you duck me every chance you get and tell me you want to be alone? What did I do? We're friends aren't we? Best friends."

I heave a heavy sigh. "Yeah, we're friends."

Mindy shrugs and looks away for a moment and then says something that chills me to the core. "I care about you and I don't want to lose you. You're like my goddam brother, you know?"

"Fuck," I mutter under my breath. I stick my hands in my pockets for lack of a better thing to do with them and look studiously across the street.

"We have a good thing going, don't we? Hit-Girl and Kick-Ass are doing great…or we were until you stopped coming out on patrol regularly. You must be getting kind of rusty."

I don't turn to look at her when I answer. "I've still been going out on patrol myself."

Mindy's jaw drops and I can tell she's just staring at me uncomprehendingly for a few minutes. Finally she finds her voice again. "You what?! Are you fucking crazy?! We agreed! No patrols alone, we're a goddam team!"

"You've been a little busy these days…and nights. Maybe you're the one getting rusty."

"Holy shit! What is it with you? Why do you keep harping on this? What happens if you get into trouble out there?! Neither of us have done this without a partner for years! Shit, what the hell have you been doing?"

I finally turn back to look at her. "I've been making my way, ok? I'm happy you've found a life outside of the fucking carnival, but now that's all I have. I need it and you need…well, you need to figure out who Mindy is without the mask. Shit, maybe you can even get out of this freak show now."

Mindy's eyes widen. "You think I could leave the life? The mission? Just walk away because I have a friggin' boyfriend?! Give me a break Dave don't you know me by now?"

"Mindy, you've got a chance at normalcy and as much as you've always railed against it I think it's something you've always wanted. Give it a chance. Let yourself be happy. Let yourself *live* for once and stop worrying about saving other people. Save yourself this time. You don't need to die young."

"And you do?!"

"I need to be self-sufficient if I'm going to make it in a new city and I think I'm ready for it now. Chicago seems to need some help cleaning up, or maybe Miami…the sun would be nice."

Mindy shakes her head. "I can't believe I'm hearing this! You…you really mean it? You're…you're leaving?" Her voice actually breaks on the last syllable.

I shrug and then, despite my better judgement, I reach out to touch her cheek lightly. "Hey, it had to happen one of these days. I'm sorry I went about it in a shitty way, but things change and I…well, I gotta find my own way now. I love you, kid. Take care of yourself, alright?"

I'm shocked when I see a tear roll down Mindy's cheek. Suddenly she swats my hand away and glares at me. "Fuck you! Fuck you and the goddam horse you rode in on asshole! Fuck!"

Before I can say anything she turns and runs away.

* * *

><p><em>January 2011 – the Past<em>

Dave walked into the school with a grin on his face despite the bruises he could still feel on his body and the black eye he was sporting. It had probably been the most productive Christmas break he'd ever had. He still wasn't anywhere near ready to go out on the streets, even with a partner, but Mindy had seemed pleased with his progress and he was starting to believe her assertion of his progress. He felt different somehow. More capable, more directed, more sure of himself than he'd ever been before.

A voice stopped him in his tracks as he turned the corner and nearly caused all of his confidence to evaporate.

"And where the hell were you for the past two weeks?! I thought you were my damn boyfriend, but you can't even spare more than one night for me?"

He turned to see Katie leaning against a locker, her arms folded over her chest and an angry glare plastered on her face.

Dave attempted a weak smile. "Hi Katie. Sorry, I was just really busy with my dad. He had a lot of stuff he needed me to do around the house and he was running me ragged!"

Katie's eyes widened. "What the fuck happened to your eye?!"

She ran up to him and raised her hand to his face, running her thumb under his black eye before looking at him. "Are you going to tell me you got a black eye helping out your dad?!"

He shrugged. "I was, um…"

Katie's eyes narrowed. "You're doing Kick-Ass stuff again, aren't you?!" she hissed.

Dave looked around, glad to see that no one appeared to be within earshot.

"Katie, c'mon take it easy ok?" he whispered. "Just take a breath."

She swatted his hand away. "You said you were done with all of that shit! They almost killed you Dave! What the fuck are you thinking? And now you're gonna lie to me about it, too?"

Dave grabbed Katie's shoulder despite her attempt to shrug him off and steered her towards the nearest exit.

When he had her outside he turned to her and took a deep breath. "Yes, ok? I'm doing some Kick-Ass stuff again." He raised his hand to halt her protest. "And yes, I told you a lie, but only because I didn't want to worry you."

Katie threw up her arms. "Oh! I guess that makes it all ok, huh?"

Dave looked awkwardly at the ground. "No, I guess it doesn't. I'm sorry, I just…I need to do this Katie and I knew you wouldn't like it."

"Of course I don't like it idiot! You're not a goddam superhero, you're just a normal guy in a fucking costume! How do you think you're going to survive doing this stuff out there? You know how dangerous it is. I thought you were smarter than that!"

"I'm not doing it alone, ok. I have help now…really good help."

Katie looked at him. "Help? What the hell does that mean? Who could help…? Oh shit. You are *not* saying that…"

"Yes, it's Hit-Girl, ok?"

"No! No, it is *not* ok! That little girl is a psychotic freak! Her and her dad almost got you killed last time and now you're thinking about running around with her?! She's a freaking serial killer!"

"C'mon, that's really not fair. You don't even know her!"

Katie put her hands on her hips and tilted her head. "Oh? Ok, enlighten me. What's she like?"

Dave shrugged. "She's…it's hard to explain. She's the most dedicated person I've ever met. Nothing stops her from doing what she needs to do and she isn't afraid of anything."

Katie rolled her eyes. "Which is why she's going to get killed sooner rather than later."

"You might think that, but you haven't seen her in action."

"Actually I have. Remember that video of you getting the absolute shit kicked out of you? The one where the other 'professional' superhero got killed? The one who was actually a grown man? I saw that psychotic little kid go nuts in that warehouse."

"Keep your voice down!" muttered Dave looking around anxiously in case Mindy appeared. "She only did what she had to do and she saved my life."

"And I'd like you to hold onto it!" she replied putting her hand on his chest. "I don't care how heroic she is, she's still just a little girl and the thought of only having that between you and a gruesome death scares the shit out of me!"

Dave ran his finger across her cheek. "It's ok Katie. She's the real deal and she can train me. She already is! Trust me, we won't be going out on the streets until we're ready and we'll be watching each other's backs the whole time."

Katie ran her hand across her eyes. "You're being trained to kill people by a psychotic little girl. And I'm supposed to think that's a comforting thought? Shit, when did this become my life?"

He squeezed her shoulder. "Trust me. Everything will be fine and the minute things start looking like they won't work out I'll quit. I promise."

"Yeah, I've heard that one before."

Despite her sour grimace, Katie still let him lead her back into the school.

* * *

><p>"Trouble with the girlfriend?" asked Mindy as she set her tray down in front of Dave in the cafeteria.<p>

Dave looked around uneasily then glanced back at Mindy. "What makes you say that?"

"I saw you talking with her outside the school this morning. Looked like a…um, heated discussion."

Dave grimaced. "Yeah, I couldn't come up with a good explanation for my black eye and she figured out that I'm doing the Kick-Ass thing again. She also wasn't too pleased that I only went out with her one night during the break."

"Boo hoo…did you at least nail her to keep her quiet?" asked Mindy with a grin.

"Fuck Mindy! Why do you have to say things like that?"

"Well, you *are* sleeping with her, right?"

Dave looked around uncomfortably. "Well, yeah, but…"

"But nothing. I figured you must have told her about your secret identity and that's how you got into her pants."

"Gee thanks."

"Hey look I don't mean anything bad on your end…she just strikes me as the kind of girl who's only gonna sleep with a guy if he has something to offer her above and beyond a nice personality and sweet disposition."

Dave looked at her askance. "Where the fuck is this coming from? Who died and made you Sherlock Holmes?"

"Keep your shirt on. I may have only been in this school for a few months, but I know how these things work and I know you: Katie may play the sweet and kind prom queen looking to help out her subjects, but she is definitely aware of the social hierarchy around here. You on the other hand are not exactly high school royalty…there's only one thing I can think of that you might have that could be traded into sex with the captain of the cheerleaders….you're Kick-Ass."

"Fuck, you are just giving me confidence by the bucketful. Thanks for letting me know how relatively worthless I am."

"I never said that douchebag, you weren't listening."

"Oh? What did you say then?"

"I said you're a really nice guy who obviously doesn't fit in with the standard piss-on-everyone-else bullshit that the kids around here take for granted. I mean fuck, you went out and put on a green wetsuit and got yourself knifed so you could help people! I'm afraid Katie, on the other hand, does have a keen appreciation of who's worth what in high school terms even if she's a bit more guarded about it. If she's with you, and she obviously is, then there's gotta be a reason that she sees as making up for it."

"Man, you really are cynical, you know that?"

"Nah, I'm a realist," replied Mindy taking a bite out of her carrot. "She'll act all pissed off, but once she realizes this means she's still making time with a real live superhero she'll loosen up…and I expect the sex will get even better for you."

"God Mindy! Just shut up about that, ok?"

"Jeez, why are you so squeamish about it, you're the one who's plugging her."

"You're a twelve year old girl! I don't really want to be discussing my sex life with you."

"O-kay," said Mindy raising her hands. "Forbidden topic number one: Dave pounding Katie into the mattress. Understood." She grinned as she watched his face turn a particularly bright shade of crimson.

She pointed her carrot at him threateningly. "One thing: you never tell her the truth about me, got it?"

Dave nodded as his face started returning to its normal hue. "Yeah yeah, don't worry. Sacred trust, I know. That does mean we're going to have to come up with some kind of explanation for why we're always hanging out you know. Marty's already asking stupid questions."

Mindy rolled her eyes. "Marty's *always* asking stupid questions, but yeah I get you. We definitely don't need the prom queen snooping into secrets that aren't immediately leading to your sexual gratification."

"Mindy!"

She just grinned and took another bite of her carrot.


	4. Chapter 4

_May 2014 – the Present_

"I figured I'd find you hiding out here Lizewski."

My back goes up the moment I hear the voice, but I don't turn around right away. I take my time to put the comic I had been perusing back on the shelf before I turn and look him in the eye. I think this may be the first time that Trevor has deigned to enter Atomic Comics, a place I'm sure he identifies solely with losers, Mindy notwithstanding, and I sure as hell hope this is the last.

"I'm hardly hiding Trevor, you know I can be found here pretty easily...which is, I imagine, why you have bothered setting foot in here."

He glances around, a look of distaste on his face. "I don't know what Mindy sees in this place," he turns to look me over. "Then again, I don't know what she sees in you either."

I rub my eyes and heave a sigh. "I'm well aware of what you think of me Trevor. If that's all you came here for then please get lost."

"I came here to verify that the impossible has happened: you've finally come to your senses and are going to let Mindy get away from your crappy influence. I can only hope it also means you are going to give up on this stupid obsession of yours."

"I…what?!"

"First she hooks up with you and your loser friends and has to be a social leper for her first few years at school when she could have easily been one of the most popular girls there, and then she has to live with the stigma of you hanging off her like a goddam love-sick leech."

"What the fuck are you talking about?" I growl.

He steps back at the look in my eyes. "Shit Lizewski, thankfully Mindy is apparently the only person who doesn't know you're fucking obsessed with her. I mean, could you be any more creepy? It's not like you haven't been the worst thing to happen in her life from the start, but do you have to compound it with your pervy fixation?"

"Mindy and I never…"

"Yeah I know, thank god, but it sure wasn't for any lack of desire on your part!"

I narrow my eyes and clench my fists until my knuckles go white, but I don't say anything in response.

"It looks like you managed to do the impossible though: you finally managed to get her to realize what a waste of time you are. I don't know what you actually said to her Lizewski, but whatever it was you sure put a bee in her bonnet."

"If Mindy's not telling you something then *I'm* not going to be the one to enlighten you Trevor. Sounds like she shares too much with you as it is anyway."

He gives me a lop-sided grin. "Yeah, your 'big secret'. I bet that really had to piss you off didn't it? I always knew there was something besides your obsession to why you two were so tight, but I have to admit that the truth blew me away. Is that the thing that lets you believe you're not a loser? The fact that you run around in tights at nighttime and beat up on crack heads?"

I look around the store, but there aren't that many customers in here given that it's the middle of a weekday. I still decide to lower my voice and move in close to Trevor…not merely to keep our conversation private. From where I'm towering over him I narrow my eyes further.

"You better keep your voice down and make sure you keep that to yourself you little fucker. I have no idea how Mindy lost her mind enough to tell you anything about that, but since she did you ought to know that you have both of our lives in your hands."

His bravado of a few moments ago seems to be evaporating and he actually looks a little nervous. The spiteful part of me is happy at that. He swallows before he says, "I know you think I'm an asshole, but do you really think I'd do anything to hurt Mindy?"

"I have no idea what you're capable of Trevor, but you're the one who came in here to rub it in my face so I'm letting you know where you stand. That knowledge is a privilege, not a right. It goes without saying that if any harm comes to Mindy by way of what you know I will hunt you down and kill you myself, and if I think that someone has gotten wind of *me* and hurt the people I care about through your idiocy or malice even Mindy won't be able to stop me from taking out payment in full."

The fear in his eyes is sharper, but I have to give him credit for how well he holds it in. He squares his jaw and attempts to make himself seem taller. "Is…is that a threat Lizewski?"

I wait a few beats before I respond with a small smile. "Yes actually. It is."

* * *

><p><em>July 2011 – the Past<em>

It took six months of intensive training before Mindy decided Dave was ready for a real test.

He'd been breaking his back and burning the candle at both ends in an attempt to keep up with both his training and his schoolwork, but in the end one of them had to suffer…it ended up being school. Mindy also only gave him one night every two weeks for Katie and initially his girlfriend had done little more than bitch about "his little Nazi taskmaster", but in the end Mindy had been proven right. Dave had taken to starting to wear loose flannel shirts to school to help avoid drawing attention to his hardening physique and this, along with some occasionally voiced day-dreams about how well she thought he'd fill out his green suit, had definitely led to Dave's two nights a month with Katie becoming progressively more and more adventurous. Better yet, he could now hold his own in a sparring match with Mindy for more than ten minutes before he got tagged.

Finally, on a sultry night in July, Dave's 'graduation' day came…unbeknownst to him.

He walked into the safe house expecting a routine training session only to stop when he noticed that Mindy was wearing her Hit-Girl uniform.

"Alright buttercup, suit up!"

"What?"

"You heard me, get your gear on. We've got an appointment."

Dave couldn't help but grin…until he saw Mindy's knowing smirk in return.

"Um, what's the assignment?"

"Final exam," she replied as she calmly attached a scope and silencer to a high-powered rifle.

"Care to fill me in?"

"All in due time grasshopper," she replied, allowing her grin to widen. "Now get your gear on and be ready in 15 minutes or you fail. Capisce?"

He nodded and hustled to the bathroom to change into his suit which he was starting to find a bit of a tight fit. He walked out of the bathroom stretching his arms before he pulled on his mask.

"Hmm, we're going to need to get you a new uniform if you keep filling out big guy. We don't want any of your movement restricted. Are you okay to go out tonight?"

He swung his arms and stretched again. "No problem. I'm not hampered, just need to stretch it out a bit."

Mindy nodded. "Okay then, let's go."

She didn't wait for his reply, simply turned, picked up her rifle and headed out the door.

When they finally reached their destination Dave had worked out his kinks and felt much more comfortable in his suit. He crouched down beside her on the fire escape and looked across at the apartment building to which she was currently giving her full attention.

"So…" he began, but she cut him off with a raised hand. He waited again until she finally turned towards him.

"Alright, that," she said pointing to the building across the way, "is our target. This should be easy for you…just like old times," she added with a grin.

Dave looked from her to the building and back again. "Okay…so what are we doing?"

"*You* are going to infiltrate that crack den and take out any opposition you find. You will also case the place for ill-gotten gains and bring them back here. Remember that we don't want anyone following us, so you better make sure that you deal with anyone you find in there."

"Why do you keep saying 'you'? Aren't 'we' going in there?"

Hit-Girl rolled her eyes. "This is *your* test numb-nuts, I'll be here to provide back-up." With that she hefted her rifle and smiled.

Dave's eyes bulged. "You want me to go into a crack den by myself?!"

Hit Girl sighed, letting her head fall to one side. "Fuck, are you kidding me Lizewski? You have it easy…you should have seen what daddy had *me* do for my final test."

Dave looked incredulous. "It was worse than this?!"

She shook her head at him disdainfully. "Let's just say it involved a warehouse, a small army of mafia enforcers, and a switchblade. This is a fucking cake-walk."

Dave just stared at her for a minute, seemingly unable to process what she had just said. "So…you're just going to be sitting out here? Aren't you going to…I dunno…come in and supervise at least?"

"I can supervise just fine from here Ass, there's not much I won't see in this scope so don't forget that you don't want anything getting between you and the window if you can help it until you've dealt with all the threats and…"

"…always keep my back to a wall. I know." Mindy grimaced at his response. Dave sat back on his haunches for a minute then took in a deep breath. "Shit. This is for real, isn't it?"

Mindy looked him in the eyes and nodded. "It's the only way Kick-Ass. This is the sink-or-swim moment. Are you up for this?"

For a moment she was in doubt as to what he would do…frankly so was Dave. Then he nodded and looked her back in the eyes squarely. "I'm up for it. You've got my back."

"Good. Your target is the second window on the left. The one with the red curtains. It's a pretty small crew. I've never seen more than three guys in there during any of my surveillance runs…but be on guard, you can never assume there isn't something unexpected waiting for you. " With that she stretched herself out on the fire escape and positioned the rifle until she had a clear view. "You're up."

Dave nodded, took two more deep breaths and proceeded to climb down from the fire escape to make his way towards his target.

* * *

><p><em>May 2014 – the Present<em>

Despite her silence I know she's there, but I continue looking out over the city from the rooftop as though I don't.

"I know that you know I'm here Kick-Ass."

I turn around and manage not to flinch at the steely look she's giving me from behind her mask. "So…you're talking to me now Hit-Girl?"

"Seems to be the case at the moment doesn't it?"

She hops down from her perch and crosses her arms in front of her chest. "So it's true. You really are going out on regular patrols without me."

"You thought I was lying to you?"

"I hoped you were."

"I'm a big boy. I can take care of myself."

"I know. You're a big tough guy aren't you? Is that why you threatened Trevor today?"

"Went running to mama did he? Can't say I'm surprised."

"Did you?"

"I educated him on certain realities that I felt he ought to be aware of."

"By threatening him."

"By threatening him," I agree.

"Why do you hate him so much? He's not such a bad guy you know."

"He's a douchebag and even if he's not the worst one there is you deserve better."

"You don't even know him!"

"I know him well enough Mindy…and I know you."

"Do you?!" she says heatedly as she stalks over to me. She starts tapping my chest with her finger with each statement she makes. "Do you know me so well that you get to decide who I can and can't date? That when you don't like it you get to just fuck off and break up our partnership…our friendship?! I can tell you that I wasn't too fucking fond of Katie, but I never held it over your head like some kind of fucking defect!"

I swat her finger away and scoff at that. "Of course you fucking did! I never heard the end of it about her from you!"

"Yeah I rode you because I knew you could do better, but I never abandoned you…I never left you in the goddam lurch for no fucking reason!"

"Of course there's a goddam reason," I say before I can stop myself.

She looks up at me plaintively. "Then tell me! Fuck, you owe me that at least don't you?"

I close my eyes and take in a deep breath. "It's different okay? It was just different when I was seeing Katie. Things have changed and we're not the same people we were then."

She grips me by the arms and looks into my eyes. "What's changed? Why is it different?"

I try not to open my eyes and look into hers, but I can't help it. When I do I find myself lost in their green depths as they look sorrowfully up at me. Before I know what I'm doing I cup her cheek with one of my hands and lean forward. She seems taken aback and almost flinches, but she remains stock-still looking at me, confusion and the hint of something else ghosting across her features.

"Because of this," I whisper before I slowly lean down to kiss her lips.

I feel her body go tense immediately and I wait for the slap, the push, the angry words, but as she raises her arms she hesitates for a moment before grasping the back of my head and leaning into the kiss. The tension disappears from her body and it's almost as if she melts into me. For a strange, endless moment the world has gone inside-out and there's no one but us. Her hands continue to grasp the back of my head and I move mine to gently cradle her waist. The kiss deepens with each second that passes and I am starting to lose myself when it suddenly ends and she steps back.

I open my eyes to see that hers are still closed as she slowly raises her fingers to her lips. When her eyes open she is looking down. She glances quickly up at me and starts to shake her head. Her eyes widen and I can see a shimmer like moisture there.

"Shit! Goddamit! Fuck! Shit! No….no, no, no, no!"

"Mindy I…"

She puts her hand up between us and turns her head. "No! Fuck Dave what the hell…?! Why did you…?! I can't…I can't fucking do this!"

She turns and runs and all I can do is watch her go. It's the second time in less than a week that I've driven her away near tears. Once because she thought I hated her and now because she knows I love her. I drop to the ground and put my head in my hands. I have now officially well and truly fucked everything up.

* * *

><p><em>July 2011 – the Past<em>

After scanning the room to ascertain that it was actually empty Dave tested the already partially open window. Luckily it appeared to be one of the few ones in old apartments like these that didn't stick when you pushed it up and he managed to get it fully open, and half of his body into the room silently, before someone sauntered in from an adjacent hallway.

Dave froze and the man almost didn't notice him as he continued walking to the other side of the room, but then he suddenly stopped and stood still for a second before turning to look incredulously at the person in the green wet suit sitting in the window. Dave simply smiled nervously and waved feebly while the other man continued to stare.

"What the fuck…?" the man finally managed as he reached for something in his waistband.

Luckily Dave recovered a split second before his adversary and managed to get fully into the room and launch himself at him. Dave gripped the man's arm before it could reach whatever he had in his waistband and put his full weight behind him as he pushed the man to the ground.

Holding the man's arm down behind his back he started slamming his head into the floor with his other hand. He could hear a some noises coming from the other room, but kept up his assault until the man finally blacked out.

"What the fuck Ace, can't you take a piss without making a fucking racket you goddam klutz?!" was yelled out from around the corner, but luckily no one had as of yet come to investigate the noise. Dave turned the man onto his stomach and pulled the gun from his waistband. He proceeded to remove the clip and the bullet from the chamber before throwing the gun aside.

_"Bad idea Kick-Ass," _came Hit-Girl's voice over his ear piece_."You just threw away a weapon with no connection to you that you could have used to get the drop on anyone else in there."_

"I'm not killing anyone if I can help it. I don't need the temptation," he whispered.

_"Fuck Kick-Ass, are you serious?! This isn't a test you know…I mean it is, but it's a life-or-death one douchebag!"_

"I can do it, now shut up and let me concentrate!"

_"Pussy," _he heard her mutter before the comm went silent again.

He scanned the room. There wasn't much to see: a ratty old couch, a small coffee table with some junk food, liquor bottles and drug paraphernalia on it, a fridge and a shitty T.V. It looked a lot like Rasul's place as a matter of fact and Dave shook his head as he figured that's exactly what Mindy had in mind.

"Nice choice of venue Hit-Girl, just like old times, huh?"

_"Like it?" _came her voice and he could hear the smile in it. _"I thought you'd like it. This time don't puss out, ok?"_

He shook his head. "Stop calling me a…"

"Who the fuck are you talking to Ace…? Shit!"

Dave spun around to see one of Ace's friends standing in the doorway he had stupidly put his back towards. He cursed as he noticed that his enemy was able to reach for a gun much more quickly than his incapacitated friend had been and he was even able to get out a quick shout of "It's one of those goddam superheroes!" before Dave was able to pull out his batons and use one to knock the gun from his adversary's hand while he used the other to smash him across the face.

His opponent was dazed by the blow and Dave pressed the attack, deciding to show Mindy what he could do he swung around and knocked the man down with a roundhouse kick. The man staggered back and fell into the coffee table, knocking some liquor bottles to the floor where they smashed. He picked the man up by his shirt and proceeded to punch him in the face until his head lolled to the side.

"Two down one to…" he began then was choked off as someone grabbed him by the neck and wrenched him off of the floor.

Dave flailed around wildly for a minute before he got control of himself and swung around with an elbow, smashing his adversary in the ribs. Once. Twice. Three times he hit his opponent, but still the man retained his grip, though it was starting to loosen.

He aimed a backwards kick at the man's knee and he finally went down. As the man's grip came away from Dave's throat he took in a shuddering breath and lunged forward, away from the thug. But not quickly enough. The man recovered and grabbed Kick-Ass's leg before he could crawl away, hauling him back towards him and bearing down on him with all his weight.

Dave twisted around and threw up his arms in time to grab him by the face and stop the man from crushing him, but only managed to slow his attack. The man sneered at him and put his fingers around Dave's throat again, bearing down against Dave's arms. For a moment they were at a stand-still and then the man started slowly pushing down further and squeezing, an evil smile creasing his twisted features from between Dave's fingers.

"Any…time…Hit…Girl…" muttered Dave as he tried to push the man's face up higher for a clear shot from the window.

There was silence on the comm.

"Hit….Girl….? I…"

Dave was losing oxygen and started to panic.

He closed his eyes and took a second to gather his wits. Pushing with his last ounce of strength against his foe to gain some time and breathing room he noticed a broken bottle lying on the floor next to him. Dave said a quick prayer and let go with one hand, letting it dart out for the bottle and slashing up at his enemy before he blacked out.

There was a gurgling scream and suddenly the pressure was off of Dave's body and throat and he rolled over, feverishly taking in gulps of air. He crawled to his knees only to see the man he had been fighting clawing at his throat, reaching out with one of his hands towards Dave before he fell to his knees and smashed forward into the floor.

Dave looked on, dazed, as blood started pooling under his erstwhile foe.

He lurched forward, grabbing at his stomach. "I think I'm going to be sick…"

* * *

><p>Mindy gave Dave a slow clap as he clambered up onto the fire escape and dropped the bag filled with drug money at her feet.<p>

"Nicely done Kick-Ass. You passed."

Dave just glared at her.

"_'You passed_?!'" he finally said.

"With flying colours," Hit-Girl agreed with a grin.

"What the fuck Hit-Girl?! You must have had at least half a dozen clean shots you could have taken in there when that guy had me on the floor! Were you waiting for him to fucking strangle me before you did something?! I You weren't even answering the comm. I nearly lost my shit! I thought you were my back-up!"

Hit-Girl crossed her arms. "I am. And you did just fine. You didn't need me to intervene. The fact that you're standing here proves it."

"Just fine?! Holy fuck! I had to slice his throat open with a goddam whisky bottle!"

"I know. I was impressed. Look Kick-Ass, this wasn't just a test of whether you had the balls to go in there and fight those guys or not, it was a test of whether you could do what it takes when it counts. Could you make the hard call?"

"You wanted to see if I could kill him?! Jesus, that's just fucking sadistic! Are you psychotic?! What if I hadn't been able to do it? Would you have just watched me bleed out on the fucking floor?!"

"No," replied Mindy and the tone of her voice and look in her eyes stopped his retort. "If he got anywhere near killing you his brains would have been painted on the wall."

Dave believed her.

"You can *always* trust me to have your back whatever it takes, to always make the hard call. Now I know I can trust you too."

"Shit," said Dave as he turned and plopped down on the fire escape. He rested his arms on the railing in front of him and leaned his head against them.

"It's the hardest lesson to learn Kick-Ass, but it's the most important one. This is life or death. Every night. This isn't a game, or a fantasy, or a comic book. We're out here to do the things no one else can, or will, do. And we're here looking out for each other until the bitter end."

She sat down next to him and they both gazed silently towards the window with red curtains as they fluttered in the wind.


	5. Chapter 5

_May 2014 – the Present_

I roll back and forth restlessly in my bed, playing over the events of the evening in my mind. I had done it. I had told Mindy how I felt. Well, I had shown her to be more precise, and for a moment at least she had seemed to return my feelings – she had certainly returned the kiss. That was good, right?

Of course immediately afterwards she had looked at me in something akin to wide-eyed horror and had cursed up a storm. Let's not forget that I had driven her away in tears - driven Hit-Girl to tears – not only immediately after, but twice in one week! So it looks like the 'not so good' side of the scales is bearing the brunt of the weight.

I try to push the memories of the fiasco on the rooftop from my mind and force myself to lay still. Of course the only thing I can see when I close my eyes is her face. Sometimes it's happy and smiling in the way that only she can smile; at others it's sad or angry and I know that those emotions are directed at me. I don't know which face is more painful for me to see.

Suddenly there's a tap at the window. I tense knowing that there is only one person it could be. Despite myself my heart leaps, but it just as suddenly constricts and goes cold at the thought of who, or what, is waiting for me. What's she doing here now? Am I even ready to see her? Does it matter? When did Mindy ever let a little thing like a closed window get between her and what she wanted?

I consider pretending I'm still asleep for about two seconds and then roll over and glance at the clock by the bed - three in the morning - before I look over towards the window. A familiar looking silhouette is crouched out there, but I can't see any details. I sigh and then roll out of bed, padding slowly to the window. After I lift it I can see that Mindy is sitting on the sill looking away from me, but she turns and looks up at me when the window opens. I can't read her face and that in itself makes me start to worry.

"Mindy, I…"

"Just let me talk, ok?"

My pulse quickens at her tone, but I simply nod and shut my mouth.

Mindy sighs then looks down. "You really took me by surprise tonight. I didn't...I never knew you felt that way about me."

"I do."

She nods, still not able to look me in the eyes.

"How long?" she asks.

I shrug, though the action is lost on her given that she's apparently found something very interesting in the general direction of her feet. "I'm not sure I can really say. I've always...I've always cared about you."

She nods again. "I care about you too."

Her words start to give me a glimmer of hope, so I barrel on. "But I guess it started after Katie dumped me. I mean...things started to change in the back of my mind...or maybe not change, but become clearer. To a part of me at least. I wasn't fully aware of them, but looking back I think that's when it started."

"When was it, you know, clearer to *all* of you? When was it something you were really thinking about?"

"Shit I don't know Mindy, I didn't just wake up one morning and decide 'hey I'm in love with my best friend now'."

She flinches slightly at my words.

"Was it before him?"

I don't need to ask what she means. "Yeah...it was before him."

She looks at me then, her eyes wide. "Then why didn't you *say* anything?!"

I can't read exactly what's in her eyes, but I know enough that it doesn't look good. "I...I don't know Mindy. Because I'd just gotten over the worst year of my life which I'd spent trying to convince everyone, myself included, that I *wasn't* into you that way. Because I figured it would just hurt our friendship, our partnership. Because...because I couldn't believe you'd ever feel that way about me."

She shakes her head. "That's just stupid."

"Maybe. I did try you know...finally, but by then it was too late. You'd met him and you were so happy. You were so, I dunno, in love I guess. I just couldn't do anything to fuck that up."

When she looks at me I can definitely read the anger there now. "So *now* was the right time to try and fuck it up?!"

I'm a little taken aback and my defenses start asserting themselves. "No! But *someone* just wouldn't let it go, would they? Wouldn't let *me* go. They just *had* to have an answer. So I gave it to them."

"You couldn't have just lied?!"

My heart goes cold at that and I am momentarily at a loss for words. Finally I manage to say, "I didn't even mean to say what I said - to do what I did - but it happened, ok? I was caught up in the moment and I didn't want to lie to you, I couldn't keep it bottled up inside anymore and I so I did it. OK?!"

"No, it's *not* ok! You've gone and fucked up everything!"

Neither of us speaks for a few minutes. The silence starts getting uncomfortable - I don't know the last time we ever even had an uncomfortable silence, but this one is horrible. The anticipation is almost more than I can stand.

Finally she almost whispers. "I think you'd better go."

I'm confused momentarily, in more ways than one. This is my house after all. "What?"

She looks up at me, her eyes not angry anymore, but sadder than I've ever seen them. "I think you were right. Your plan. You'd better go."

My stomach drops out from under me...along with my world. I clench my teeth and can't help closing my eyes. "I see."

"Dave I…" her voice catches and she stops, taking a breath and swallowing before she abortively continues, "Please don't think that I mean...I just...fuck..."

"No, I get it. You're right. I was right in the first place. I need to go and then this can all be…it can just be something we forget about. I was an idiot and I was selfish and I fucked everything up. I get it."

"Dave, please, I…"

"Just go now please," I say as I rub my head and turn away. I am suddenly getting a horrible shooting pain behind my eyes.

"Dave I can help…"

"Just. Go. Now!"

I surprise myself at the vehemence in my voice. I don't quite yell, but I'm not gentle either. I just don't need for her to see me like this. I don't need for her to see me cry. She is right though. It is all my fault. I've fucked up everything, but even so there is only so much I can take and having her see that is beyond the limit. I have the rest of my life to think about all the regrets I've piled up for myself in the last few weeks. What's one more?

I keep my back to the window for several endless minutes. When I finally have control of myself again I turn and see that she's gone. I hadn't heard a thing, but that's nothing new.

* * *

><p><em>January 2012 – the Past<em>

They had been out on regular patrols for the last six months and Dave was finally starting to feel like he was getting the hang of it. He'd even managed to save Mindy once when she'd been attacked from behind after choosing to take on three guys at once. She'd saved his life countless times already though, so he didn't bother rubbing it in…too much. He simply made a few cracks about her spider sense being faulty and cautioned her about not biting off more she could chew anymore. Luckily Mindy only drop kicked him once during training in retaliation.

School had been awkward for awhile. They were real friends now and didn't want to pretend otherwise, but spending too much time together would definitely get people asking too many questions: especially Katie who knew Dave's secret identity and who, Mindy's perennial snarky comments notwithstanding, wasn't dumb by any means. She would have quickly put two and two together so they decided to limit their lunches together to once a week and eventually came up with the excuse that Mindy was tutoring Dave in algebra for the other times they met during free periods.

On the surface it seemed ridiculous, but Dave's GPA and generally abysmal academic performance meant that having him pose as Mindy's tutor was even more ridiculous and it turned out that Mindy really was something of an academic wunderkind. So while she was busy working on material several years ahead of the rest of her class, and helping Dave with it to boot, they were able to divert any unwelcome questions. For the time being at least.

When they had come up with the plan in Mindy's second year at the school after she had been placed in the advanced math stream Dave had foreseeably balked. He hated being the 'sidekick' in their professional relationship as it was, now as a sophomore he had to have a grade eight student as his tutor? It was more than a little demeaning, especially when Mindy would hold it over him in her teasing way, but Dave soon caved. He found that he didn't want to have to ignore Mindy during the entire school week and this way they could at least get together and hang out in something approximating a normal friendship outside of their professional activities.

"Ok Dave, so write 2 log3 x + log3 5 as a single logarithmic expression."

"Huh?" he said as he seemed to shake himself awake and looked across the library table towards her.

"Shit, no wonder you're failing math doofus. Pay attention!"

"Sorry, just thinking about," suddenly Dave stopped himself, "…never mind."

Mindy rolled her eyes and said "Kay-tee?" in a sing-song voice.

"No! I mean, yes, but…" Dave sighed. "Never mind."

Mindy arched her brow and closed her book at Dave's obvious discomfort. "Oooh, *now* you have me interested. What's up?"

Dave rolled his own eyes now. "Give me a break Mindy, ok? You probably wouldn't understand anyway."

"Pfft! Right, because your problems are *so* incomprehensible."

"Look you're smarter than me…you're a better superhero than me…you've got it all going on, I get it okay?! I just don't need you trying to solve my personal problems too, alright?"

"Shit Dave, c'mon I'm not…I mean you don't…fuck." She looked nonplussed by what Dave had said.

Her speechlessness was an occasion Dave might have taken pleasure in under different circumstances. Instead he just looked away sheepishly. "Look I'm sorry that was…that was dickish. I just…I don't know, there are just some things I need to solve on my own, ok?"

Mindy looked down at her book then back at Dave. "You're not stupid you know."

"What?"

"You're not stupid," she said again in a tone that was starting to sound like she wasn't too sure of it at the moment.

"Right. That's why I have a thirteen year old teaching me algebra…something that was only supposed to be a cover and has, in fact, turned out to be all too real."

"Fuck algebra! As if we'll ever need any of this bullshit again in our lives!"

"That's not the point Mindy!"

"Then what *is* the point?"

Dave sighed. "The point is I thought being Kick-Ass would make me feel...better, and all I feel is like a different kind of loser."

Mindy tilted her head and screwed her eyes up. "First of all: bullshit! Secondly: what's that got to do with you and Katie?"

Dave shrugged. "I've just been thinking for awhile and I think you were right."

Mindy shook her head as she glared at him and held out her hands in the universal sign of 'duh, I'll need more info than that'.

"The only reason she's going out with me is because I'm a superhero, and I'm a second-rate superhero at that. Once she realizes that it'll all be over. This," here he motioned at the books littering the table between them, "just brings it all home is all."

"Dave you are so stupid! No wait," she said holding out her hand and forestalling his comment when she realized what had come out of her mouth. "What I mean is that you are *not* a second rate anything."

"C'mon you can wipe the floor with me ten times out of ten any day of the week and I'm bigger and older than you."

"What's that got to do with it? I've been in training, exclusively, for years. You've had, what, about a year to catch up? And you know what?"

"What?" asked Dave dubiously.

"You're pretty fucking awesome!"

Dave rolled his eyes. "Mindy please. The last thing I need is false praise to make me feel better, it just…"

"Dave will you fucking shut your trap and listen?!"

Dave's mouth closed automatically and he looked at his friend in surprise.

"When you started training I thought you just might be a lost cause. I mean you were able to help with D'Amico, but you had a jet pack and a gattling gun to back you up, not to mention the bazooka. To be honest your previous track record as a hero was pretty abysmal."

"Thanks," sighed Dave.

"Let me finish! When we started training I saw what you had that made a difference: heart. You stuck out the most gruelling regime I could come up with…and trust me I was *not* going easy on you. You sacrificed your personal life, school, everything. You committed to it 110%. On top of that you were ready to hit the streets and make a difference in *six months*! So what if you still need to follow my lead? And all of this shit?" she said motioning at the books and the school around them in general. "We're just biding our time. You've found your 'thing' Dave. Trust me…I would not lie to you about the mission, or your ability to pursue it: you were born to be a hero. Almost as much as me," she added with a wry grin.

Dave couldn't help but return her grin with one of his own. He shrugged. "I dunno Min, I still feel like a second stringer but…thanks. That means a lot coming from you."

Mindy seemed to become uncomfortable under Dave's beaming gaze, so she turned back to the book in front of her and opened it again. "But that still doesn't get you out of this: so give me a single logarithmic expression, bitch."

* * *

><p><em>May 2014 – the Present<em>

I go through the rest of the week on auto-pilot. I'm still a bit numb and I'm trying to process what has just happened. Despite that I actually start making some decisions, and trying to pretend that I don't – didn't – have a friend called Mindy. Neither of us tries to contact the other and I duck a few calls from Marty. Right now I really don't want to be around anyone.

I think maybe Miami is the way to go: farther away than Chicago and at least I'll get some damn sun out of it. Maybe I should consider California. I start going over city guides to Miami just to get a better feel for it and even go to the library to look up some crime stats. I might as well be as prepared as possible…it's not like I'll have much of a personal life anytime soon.

Despite my desire to avoid everyone I can't keep away from my dad indefinitely…we live in the same house after all and he's been badgering me about my moping for the last few days. Now that I've started to make some actual decisions I'm going to have to confront him about them. He is, of course, shocked when I tell him my plans.

"Miami?! What the hell are you going to do in Miami?! And have you talked to Mindy about this?"

"Really?! Whether or not I've talked to *Mindy* about it is one of your primary concerns? And for your information yes, I have talked to her –in general at least. What has she got to do with this anyway?!"

He gives me a look like I should stop talking nonsense and crosses his arms. "Why would you move so far away, why are you evading my questions about Mindy, and what the hell would you do in Miami anyway?! I haven't heard anything about a school there."

"It's not about school Dad, I just want a change of scene."

He looks incredulous. "A change of scene?! Are you kidding me? You can't just pick up and move like that because it sounds like a good idea at the time…or because you've had your heart broken."

"Look Dad I just…wait, what did you say?"

"I'm not an idiot son I know how you feel about Mindy. I take it whatever talk you had recently didn't go well?"

I close my eyes and clench my fists in frustration. "Believe it or not Dad, not everything I do is about Mindy."

"Right now it is," he shoots back.

"Fuck, can I just get some goddam support for once?!"

"When you stop spouting idiotic ideas then I'll be happy to comply! There is no good reason for you to pick up and move to Miami. Just what the hell do you think you're going to do there anyway? How are you going to support yourself?"

This is not a conversation I can have with him right now…maybe not ever. How can I convince him that this makes sense when he doesn't even know what I do in my spare time? I've saved up some money from my recent lone patrols…enough to get me there and get me started anyway, but he doesn't know that. By rights I probably have claim to at least a part of Mindy's stash given our partnership of the last few years, but the last thing I'm going to do is go and ask her for help. I need to cut our ties cleanly and being beholden to her for my set-up cash would just add a whole other layer of complicated to our already fucked up scenario.

I sigh deeply. "Just try to trust me ok? I have some money saved up…enough for a little while at least. Maybe this'll just be temporary, maybe I'll be back sooner than I think if things don't work out, but I need to do this Dad. I need to get some space and some time away even if it's only for a little while."

He looks at me for a long moment then sighs himself. "Look, if you need some time to get away then take it. Take a month, hell take two, but I do not want you committing to anything crazy for the long term so far away from home for all the wrong reasons."

"Fine, consider this a long vacation then, ok?"

"I'm going to hold you to that," he says pointing his finger at me in warning.

"It's ok Dad, I'm a big boy now you know."

He puts his hand on my shoulder. "I'm sorry for what you're going through son, but however it turns out it's not the end of the world even if it seems like it. You've got your whole life ahead of you. Don't throw it away because of one disappointment."

I shrug. "I won't. I'm not. I just need to clear my head and I *cannot* do that here."

"Does it have to be *Miami*?"

"Well, the sun'll be nice and at least it's not Australia, right?"

He shakes his head as he ruffles my hair. "Yeah, I guess you have a point there."

We look at each other for a minute and then I shrug again and start towards the kitchen to get a drink. "Don't worry Dad, I'll be fine."

I can sense his eyes following me, but there's a knock at the door and he heads over to get it while I enter the kitchen. I'm not really paying attention, but I can hear my name being mentioned as I open the fridge. I don't recognize the voice so at least it's not Mindy. Then I hear my dad call for me.

"Dave, a friend of yours is here to see you. He says his name is Chris…"

Suddenly there is the unmistakable sound of a gunshot and everything stops. Time seems to start going in slow motion as I register both the name and the gunshot in the same moment and drop the milk carton I'd been holding. As the milk splashes over the floor I'm already partway to the living room and get there in time to see my dad lying on the floor in a puddle of blood, his hands grasping at his stomach as his face contorts in agony. I start to run to him then look at the doorway and see a familiar figure there flanked by a couple of very large goons.

It's Chris D'Amico and somehow I take in every detail even as my brain starts to unravel. He's wearing a tailored Armani suit and holding a gun still pointed at my dad with a huge grin on his face. His men are similarly dressed and have their hands hovering near their jacket pockets. Time seems to rush back to its normal flow in an instant and I almost reach my dad when Chris shakes his head and makes a tsking sound.

"Now, now Kick-Ass…or should I say Dave? Hold it right there or your dad gets another hole and this one will definitely kill him immediately."

"What the fuck…" I manage as I freeze in place. My eyes dart from my dad to Chris and I can feel my panic rising, threatening to overtake me. "What are you…?"

"Now, now, none of that denial stuff, ok? I know who you are: you're the douchebag that killed my dad. Unless you want me to return the favour right now you'll sit down and shut the fuck up!"

He waves his gun towards the couch and I obediently move towards it and sit down, looking nervously at my dad.

"Ah, don't worry about him. It's just a stomach wound, small calibre. It could take *hours* for him to die. Plenty of time for us to have a little chat man to man." He hands the gun to one of his bodyguards and walks into the house stepping gingerly over my dad's prone form, making sure to avoid the blood. They follow him in and shut the door behind them.

Chris sits down heavily next to me and slaps his hands down on his knees. "Well, isn't this cozy," he says as he looks around the house. "A little too middle-America cliché for me, but hey not everyone can have millions to allow them to have good taste now can they? Of course you kind of trashed the old penthouse, but it really did need a bit of an overhaul anyway…a little too old school for me to tell you the truth."

I just glare at him. I don't think I'm capable of saying anything that won't get me and my dad shot immediately. He just looks at me with his eyebrows raised for a few minutes, then nods.

"O-kay then, I guess I'll start the talking, huh?"

Despite his words Chris doesn't say anything and just leans back on the couch for a minute. Finally he stretches his arms, cracks his knuckles, and places his hands back on his knees before speaking.

"Man, what should we talk about?" He taps one of his fingers on his chin and screws up his eyes as if he's thinking. I keep glancing just beyond his feet where my father is slowly bleeding out all over the floor and I'm just about ready to throttle the little cum bucket before he finally turns to me, feigned surprise plastered over his features.

"I know! How about the fact that you fucking *blew up* my dad with a bazooka and almost destroyed my family's livelihood. That sounds like a good place to start!"

He looks at me with feigned interest as if he's just said 'I heard you had a great trip to Florida, tell me all about it'. I'm still at a loss for words.

He scrunches up his eyes and grimaces. "Still nothing, huh? Well, I guess you weren't expecting me. I know it wasn't really polite to drop in without calling first and I didn't even bring a fruit basket or anything, but I figured our common interests and shared experiences would make it ok. I mean we were both superheroes at one time: the bond of that fraternity is pretty deep, right? And look," he says motioning towards my father's prone body, "we've both shot each other's dad! What are the odds? We're almost like blood brothers now!"

I clench my hands until the knuckles turn white and my jaw is starting to hurt from the effort to not scream at him. He notices and moves away from me slightly. "Now settle down there big guy," he looks me over, "I was meaning to ask…have you been working out? It looks good on you."

"What do you want Chris?" I finally manage to spit out.

He sighs. "No small talk, eh? Right down to business. Well, ok then: what do I want? Hmmm." He taps his chin again, looking up towards the ceiling. "I know! Your dad's body coating the streets in a fine mist just like mine and hearing your screams before I pull out your entrails. For a start."

I glare at him. What can I say to that? Then he narrows his eyes. "After that I'm going to find your little purple girlfriend and fuck her in every hole she has with kitchen knives until she's spilling out on the floor and then I'm going to flay the cunt alive!"

My hand shoots out at that, I can't help myself, and I grip his throat tightly in something like manic glee. He starts to choke, his arms and legs flailing, and I think to myself that this will be a good way to die. His eyes bulge out and he slaps uselessly at my hand. He glances hurriedly over at his guards and suddenly it's over. They each grab me by an arm and pull me off of him, wrenching my arms back until they're nearly pulled out of my sockets.

Chris is gripping his neck and sucking in huge gasps of air. He swallows and takes a minute to settle himself while his men push me down to my knees. He glares at them. "Shit you took your fucking time morons! Bodyguards my ass."

He takes another minute to compose himself then he looks at me. "Ok, I see where that came from. Sensitive subject and maybe I gave you too many details." Then his eyes harden and he glares at me. "No wait. I actually don't give a fuck! I'm going to find that little cunt and make you watch while I tear her apart piece by piece. This is what they call payback Kick-Ass, and let me tell you…it's a bitch!"


	6. Chapter 6

_March 2013 – The Past_

People started noticing "Dave's little tutor" more as his Junior year progressed. Dave & Mindy had expanded their 'lunch dates' to two or even three a week, though they were more often than not ones that also included either Marty or Todd or even Katie (or all three), so it was more like a group of friends getting together than anything odd…except for the fact that Mindy still hadn't seemed to show much interest in too many other students her own age. There was also the fact that she had started developing a keen interest in comics and somehow managed to find herself visiting Atomic Comics more and more often - surprisingly enough generally when Marty & Todd happened not to be there with Dave.

Hit-Girl and Kick-Ass were also making the news more and more often. They had taken it as a rule of thumb that they should follow Big Daddy's original dictum that their work be done silently in the shadows as opposed to the online media frenzy of Kick-Ass' original debut. For the most part they were successful, but the fact that their existence was already known, and that it was nearly impossible to remain completely hidden from view, meant that rumours were constantly being leaked to the media and it was getting harder and harder to do their jobs unseen.

Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl sightings became a common news segment...there was a column dedicated to them on page 6. There were even rumours about their 'superhero romance' once it was established that they were a team and Mindy had gotten noticeably older - something that made Mindy smile mockingly at Dave and made him distinctly uncomfortable. Katie even confronted him about it one day and he had to pledge on his mother's grave that the stories were totally fabricated and that his relationship with Hit-Girl was purely professional. She seemed to believe him, but her vindictive comments about the "little Nazi super-slut" were expressed more and more often, frequently at lunch time while Mindy sat across from her and had a hard time keeping herself from bursting out into guffaws as Dave clenched his jaw in frustration and worry, glaring at Mindy in the hopes that she'd stop it. Of course that just made her get in on the act.

"You know what I heard?" she asked Katie innocently one day as they ate lunch with the rest of the group.

"What's that?" replied Katie with little interest as she toyed with her food. She still didn't quite understand how this freshman had become a part of their group. Of course she was still trying to understand how *she* had ended up at the comic geek table when it would normally be expected for her to spend lunch with the cheerleading squad.

"I saw on the news last night that Hit-Girl and Kick-Ass were totally making out after they busted up a mugging attempt. They must get pretty worked up with all that adrenaline I guess."

Katie's fork dropped onto her tray. "They what…?!"

Dave jumped into the conversation, his face flushed and a wild glare directed at Mindy. "That's total bullshit Mindy, you shouldn't spread those rumours! Everyone knows that Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl are just partners."

Of course Marty chose this moment to get involved. "I dunno Dave. They do say that excitement and danger can be the greatest aphrodisiac. I mean if *I* was out there busting heads with a cute little number like Hit-Girl I imagine we'd be lip-locked all the time!"

"Oh you do, do you?" said Mindy, sparing a scathing glance for Marty as she raised her eyebrow dubiously.

"Sure. You think she'd be able to resist all this?"

Mindy rolled her eyes. "Oh no, she'd obviously have a really hard time controlling herself around you. Fuck, you are so full of shit Marty."

He shrugged. "Hey you never know. A guy can dream, can't he?"

Katie glared at everyone else at the table, saving her most searing look for Dave. "Can we get back to the issue at hand, please? Has anyone else heard about this? Dave?!"

He shook his head furiously. "No! It's total bullshit. Look Mindy's probably just trying to be funny…or else she's just following some stupid tabloid report. You know what they're like." He looked plaintively at Mindy who apparently decided to relent.

"Well, okay I heard it fourth hand from a fairly unreliable source. I'm just throwing it out there for conversation…what's the big deal?"

"Yeah Katie, what do you care what Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl do?" asked Marty as he prodded his lunch with his fork.

"I uh….I don't." She said as she spared a quick glance for Dave. "I just think it's pretty shameful how they try and turn everything into a sex story. I mean she's still gotta be a little kid, right? It's gross."

Marty shrugged. "Whatever gets the audience right? It doesn't matter if it's true…it matters that we *want* it to be true."

"What are you talking about?" exclaimed Katie angrily.

"C'mon: two young superheroes keeping the streets safe for everyone? Who doesn't want to believe they're making time with each other? I mean, even if she's young we don't know how old she really is…and it's not like she still looks like she's eleven years old anymore. I saw one picture, admittedly it was fuzzy, but Hit-Girl is looking pretty bang-worthy these days!"

Dave covered his face with his hands and groaned. "Fuck…"

Mindy looked at Marty with her head cocked to the side. "You think so?"

He nodded vigorously. "Hey, *I'd* bang her."

Dave groaned again and Mindy sneered. "Yeah well, I think we all know you'd bang just about anything with a pulse if it showed the least bit of interest in you Marty."

Katie stood up, her chair screeching across the floor. "Well, I have something I have to do." Without waiting for a reply she turned and stalked off, after sparing a withering glance for Dave.

After a moment Marty and Todd stood up as well. "That's our cue I guess. Unlike some people we don't have a free period next. Ta ta!"

When they had left Dave dropped his hands from his face and glared at Mindy. If looks could kill she'd be lying on the floor bleeding out like the gang-banger she'd knifed the previous night.

"What?" she asked innocently.

"Mindy, I know you think this is funny, but it's my life!"

"Oh come on Dave, she'll get over it."

"No…she won't! Do you know how jealous she is of you?"

"Of me?"

"Of Hit-Girl."

"Jealous of what? It's all just bullshit rumours."

"You know that and I know that, but Katie's started to really get worried about it."

"Why?" asked Mindy, as she directed a pointed glance at Dave.

"Why? Because she's a fucking girl, what do you think?!"

"Oh please…that's pretty sexist."

"Have you ever dated a teenage girl?"

"Well…no, but…"

"But nothing! Even though I'm a loser with no other prospects she's always second guessing everything I do. *Especially* since I'm out on the streets most nights with a young female partner that apparently everyone thinks is 'bang-worthy'!"

"What do you think?" asked Mindy.

"I…uh, fuck Mindy stop joking around…this is serious!"

"Right, sorry," she said with a frown.

"Look, Katie is already starting to ask some uncomfortable questions…like why I haven't ever introduced her to Hit-Girl, and you poking and prodding her with shit like this is not helping! Whatever happened to the sanctity of the secret identity? Do you really need to make this so fucking hard for me?! If you keep this up then she's going to figure out who you are pretty damn soon."

Mindy shrugged. "If she's always giving you such a hard time…if you really think she thinks you're a loser… why are you still with her? Shit, shouldn't she, I dunno, *trust* you?"

Dave shook his head and ran his fingers through his hair. "Look relationships are not that simple Mindy. You'll see one of these days. It's not all black and white. You have to compromise, and you have to accept the fact that there is no perfect match out there that'll just magically work out. You have to work at it…and I don't need you trying to fuck things up for me just for shits and giggles all right?"

Mindy looked away for a moment then back at him before nodding. "Yeah, okay Dave. I'm sorry. I'm not trying to make things hard for you just…" she shrugged, "I dunno, just trying to yank your chain I guess."

Dave stood up and directed a sad look at her. "Well please stop yanking. It's starting to get painful and someone's going to end up getting hurt in the end."

Mindy watched him walk out of the cafeteria in the direction Katie had taken and then sighed. "Yeah, I guess someone will."

* * *

><p><em>May 2014 – the Present<em>

I come to only to discover that my arms and legs are chained to a wall and I'm hanging about three feet from the floor. I can't remember anything since the house, but the throbbing in my head tells me that one of Chris' goons must have hit me pretty good with something. Wait…home! Dad! I look around wildly causing pain to lance through my head, but I don't see any sign of my dad. What the fuck happened to him? Did Chris bring him? Is he at home? Is he dead? Fuck! I am going to kill that fucking cocksucker! And Mindy! Shit…if he found me then…

I take a deep breath. It's time to slow down. The last thing I need is to panic. I've been in worse situations than this.

Ok…that's a lie, but I've been in some pretty tight spots and managed to come out the other side.

Of course I had Hit-Girl backing me up then. Fuck!

I test the restraints, but they're strong. What the fuck is this anyway? Who the hell has goddamn manacles bolted to the wall? Fucking psychos like Chris D'Amico I guess. I take a minute to assess my condition, but other than the throbbing pain in my head I seem to still be in one piece and uninjured. My mind goes back to Chris' surprise entrance and I try to push away the thought of my dad lying on the floor…I have to try and think now, not get lost in anger and fear.

Despite knowing this my thoughts keep running around and around in my head, but one is definitely coming to the fore: how the hell did Chris find out who I was? And secondly why did he pick *now* to come after me? Given what little I know about Chris' impulsive nature I'd say he wouldn't wait long once he found out my secret to come after me. That means he only found out recently.

Had I been sloppy? In my forays out alone had I done something that could have compromised my identity? Then it hits me like a ton of bricks: I've only done one supremely stupid thing in the past few days and it was probably enough to drive the one person who could have done it to reveal my identity…assuming he found out what happened.

The rage I feel nearly chokes out coherent thought, but it becomes ice cold when I finally get a grip on myself. It *has* to be him….what other possible explanation is there? I can only hope that Trevor wasn't enough of a fucking cocksucker to compromise Mindy in any way. Of course I'll still flay him alive…if I get out of this.

The door to my cell suddenly opens and Chris waltzes in as if he's checking on a guest in the living room. "Oh, hey there Dave! Comfortable? No I guess not, but I'm afraid this was the only room we had available for arch-nemeses."

I manage to roll my eyes and scoff. "Please Chris…you barely rate major nuisance in my books."

He actually grins up at me. "See? This is what I like about you! You know how to play the whole nonchalant superhero thing and get into the banter…I appreciate that! I mean if you're going to invest in something as crazy as being a superhero you better be prepared to engage in it fully, am I right? Have fun with it, otherwise what's the point?" His face gets serious for a minute. "After all, you'll be dead soon. Might as well play it up while you can."

"You like throwing around threats don't you Chris?"

"Oh I think I do more than that Dave, I had the stones to put a hole in your old man's stomach after all."

I heave against the restraints and get a tiny bit of satisfaction when he cringes back automatically.

"That's right pussy! Let me down and then we'll see who the big man is here!"

"Yeah, a fist fight is not exactly what I intended here."

"Oh I'm flexible I'll find something else to beat you to a pulp with!"

Chris nods with a grin. "I like the pluck Kick-Ass, but I had other plans. I think I'll just eviscerate you…after I finish examining your partner's insides in front of you with something nice and sharp."

I feel myself go cold and I know my face has fallen by the way Chris' grin widens.

"Don't you fucking touch her!" I heave against the restraints and feel my muscles strain, but it's no good. I'm not going anywhere in the next hundred years or so. I fall back exhausted and the throbbing in my head seems to be getting worse.

"Shit, man! Do you have it bad or what? I admit that she's a hot little number, but is she really that good a piece of ass?!"

I glare at him. "I will fucking end you Chris, I promise you that."

He shakes his head. "Man, I've seen guys who had it bad for pussy, but you take the cake. You were mad when I mentioned your dad, but even imply that I want to make lamp shades out of Hit-Girl's skin and you positively lose it!" He looks at me with mournful eyes. "I really hoped for more from you Kick-Ass." He looks away for a minute then back up at me with a grin. "Ah, who am I kidding?! This is *exactly* the response I was hoping for!"

"You're nothing but second-rate mobster spawn D'Amico. Hit-Girl will fucking end you before you even get near her. You think you're even going to find her? Good luck!"

"Oh I don't need luck," he says as he polishes his fingers on his shirt and looks at his nails. "I know exactly what it'll take to get her to come straight to me. In fact I imagine she's already on her way."

* * *

><p><em>June 2013 – the Past<em>

They were all over the headlines this time not just in the regular 'hero' segment on page 6.

Every major paper and news station in the city, and most of them across the country, were reporting on the daring take-down of the Morgeti crime family by none other than New York's own superheroic duo: Kick-Ass & Hit-Girl. The Morgeti's might have been a smaller organization, nowhere near as large as the D'Amico's (even after Frank's demise) or other major families on the council, but it was still a significant blow against organized crime.

Hit-Girl and Kick-Ass were now seen as something more than minor irritants to the criminal underworld of New York. They had proven themselves major players and a threat to be reckoned with. Dave and Mindy were still running on the high as they sat in the school cafeteria re-hashing the action.

"*This* is what I've been waiting for Dave! It's this kind of thing that makes what we do: all the sweat, tears and grunt work worth it! Am I right?"

Dave couldn't help but grin from ear to ear. "I have to admit, if I knew I'd feel like this way one day I would have tried even harder to get where we are now. Somehow it feels even better than taking down Frank D'Amico."

"I know!" Mindy enthused. "It's because we did this one on our own, and it wasn't just retaliation, we took them down from top to bottom and they didn't even know we were coming! Fuck, I feel amazing!"

Dave grinned at Mindy, he couldn't believe how dazzling her smile was, he'd almost say that she glowed if he was so inclined. She held out her hand to him.

"Look at me, I'm still shaking! I don't think I've ever felt like that before. Shit Dave that was even better than my first time! I have to tell you: you were *amazing*! I am so…"

"What. The. Fuck?!"

Both Mindy and Dave turned to see where Katie stood next to the table, holding her lunch tray and looking at them in horror. Dave's grin fell from his face immediately as he realized what Katie had heard. Mindy's smile got smaller, but still held a bit of an edge to it.

"Katie, hi we were just…"

"I fucking heard what you were saying! Is this why you're never around? Is this why I can barely get a word in edgewise around you anymore? Are you actually fucking this…this…child?!"

Dave's eyes bugged out as he realized she'd only heard the last bit of their conversation and he stood up jerkily. "What?! No! Fuck, c'mon Katie don't…"

Katie slammed down her tray and screamed at Dave. "You fucking cocksucker! Don't you make excuses to me…it all makes sense now!"

Dave looked awkwardly around at the cafeteria and noticed that everyone was now staring at them…most of them with smiles on their faces.

"Your tutor, huh? Fuck, as if! I knew that even *you* weren't so stupid that you needed a kid two grades below you to tutor you! Everyone told me! 'Something's up with those two' they said, but did I listen? No! Of course not!"

"Katie, shit c'mon! Let's talk about this somewhere private you're totally…"

"Shut the fuck up Dave Lizewski! I thought you were fucked up to need a kid to tutor you, but now I see it's even worse…you needed this fucking child to screw you! What is it? Will she do things I won't do you goddam perv?!"

"Shut the fuck up Katie, you have no idea what you're talking about!" shouted Mindy as Dave just stood there in dumbfounded silence. Mindy looked at him worriedly, he appeared to be in shock, before turning back to Katie.

Katie put her hands on her hips. "Oh, so now the child whore speaks does she?"

"I'll let you get away with that one because you're upset, but you misunderstood Katie. We're not sleeping with each other!"

Katie narrowed her eyes. "Oh really?! So what was that about then, huh? What was 'better than your first time'? How was Dave 'amazing'?" She shook her head in disgust. "Do you think I'm a fucking moron?!"

Mindy was about to reply to that when Dave cut her off. "No Katie! C'mon I would never do that to you…you know that!"

Katie stopped for a moment. She seemed to be considering that. "Then what is it? What the fuck were you talking about? *Why* are you so close with her?"

Dave looked at Mindy and saw the trepidation there.

"Is this…is this one of those…'after school' things?" Katie asked and he could hear the hope in her voice. Suddenly Katie took in a breath. "Holy fuck! Wait a sec is she…?"

Dave swung his gaze to Katie and immediately shook his head. "No! No Katie…Mindy's not…that."

Katie's eyes narrowed. "Right…so the other option is that she's your fucking bed-mate?! She has to be Hit…"

"No!" said Dave. "Katie if that were true, if she were…her, don't you think I'd admit it…even make it up just to get out of this?"

He could see Mindy visibly relax in the corner of his eye, but he couldn't take his gaze away from Katie who turned her eyes towards him. They were half pleading and half outraged. She waited a moment, thinking, and looked between Mindy and Dave, then her face hardened again.

"Then. What. The. Fuck. Is. She?!"

Dave spread his hands out in front of him. "We're just friends Katie…really!"

Katie's eyes hardened. "Right. You know what Dave Lizewski? You can go fuck yourself…and your little under-aged whore you goddam pedophile! All my friends were right about you: you're a fucking waste of time you shit faced loser!"

With that she turned and stalked out of the cafeteria. The rest of the student body was dead silent for a full minute before they suddenly erupted into a chorus of harsh whispers and giggles. Dave ignored everything as he fell down into his chair and gazed unseeingly at the door Katie had used.

"Dave? Shit, I'm…I'm really sorry," said Mindy from where she stood across the table from him but Dave didn't respond.

* * *

><p>Dave was sitting outside the school, his back propped up against the wall and his arms wrapped around his knees, pulling them up against his chest. He stared blindly into the distance, but he still knew when Mindy came up beside him. She stood without talking for a minute, shuffling from foot to foot before she slid down beside him.<p>

"You ok?"

"What do you think?"

"Yeah rough day, huh?"

"Let's see: I lost my girlfriend, the school thinks I'm sleeping with my much younger best friend, and I am now considered even more of a pariah than I was before. Yeah…kind of a rough day I guess."

"I'm…fuck...I'm sorry Dave. Thanks for covering for me, you're a good friend."

"Yeah, just a shitty boyfriend."

"Fuck that! You are not Dave. Just because Katie jumped to conclusions…"

"Totally valid ones based on the info she had available to her."

"Yeah well….it's her loss."

Dave's head fell onto his knees. "Yeah…right…whoppee. I get to be right, even though no one believes it and to top it all off I've already managed to achieve the label pedophile at the ripe old age of 18. Lucky fucking me."

"I'm not *that* young," murmured Mindy.

Dave looked at her. "You're young enough."

"Seniors date Freshmen all the time!"

"No that often really…and are we really talking about this? Making the rumours true wouldn't help either of us."

Mindy looked at him for a minute then turned away. "That was just Katie being a bitch. No one else…"

Dave whipped his head around to glare at Mindy. "Everyone else! Everyone Mindy. Do you think I can't hear the whispers? God, it only happened an hour ago and it's already spread all over the school. They even managed to vandalize my locker."

"At least it's almost the end of the year. The summer's just around the corner."

"Yeah great, the rumours get to stew all summer before I come back to have the best senior year ever! Fuck."

"I…I don't know what to say Dave. I'm really sorry this happened."

"Yeah, me too." He took a deep breath. "Maybe…maybe we should get some space from each other…at school anyway."

"What?! But you'll just be playing into their assumptions! We can't just cave and make it look like they were right!"

"Mindy, they're gonna believe they're right no matter what we do. The last thing we need is to feed the fire with more rumours. I want to protect you as much as myself. How hard is it going to be for you if everyone thinks you're some underage slut because you're always hanging out with me? At least I've only got one more year here…you've got another three years in this hell hole."

"So what…we're not friends anymore? All because of that jealous bitch?"

"No, I didn't say that Mindy. We just need some space ok...at school. You're still my tutor…my friend. Shit you're my partner, but I think we need to keep a bit of distance around here, ok?"

She looked at him and saw the pleading look in his eyes. "Yeah, ok." She stood up and walked away without saying anything else.

Dave dropped his face on his knees again. "Fuck!"


	7. Chapter 7

**_Note: So I've done something a bit different with this chapter and added a viewpoint section for Mindy. I hadn't initially planned on doing this, but the way the plot is going and a few other things have made me think it might be needed. Hopefully no one finds it too jarring. as always thanks for reading and please leave reviews!_**

* * *

><p><em>May 2014 – the Present<em>

To say that I'm confused would be an understatement. It's only been a few weeks since my world got turned inside out, but in some ways it feels like I've been moving through this fog forever. What was he thinking?

I sigh heavily and shake my head. He was thinking about me. Fuck…why did his timing have to be so shitty? Just a fucking year ago and I would have been the happiest girl on the planet. Now? Now I'm with someone I care about, someone who makes me happy, and my damn best friend decides to tell me – to show me – that he's in love with me.

What do you do with that?

If you're me you throw a fit and make everything worse. Now Dave really is going to leave and it's all because I told him to. Well, maybe it's not *all* because of me, but the look on his face when I told him he should go: I thought I was going to die inside. I never wanted to hurt him like that.

But what the fuck was he thinking?! Shit…what am I going to do?

I have to see him. I have to talk to him even if it's the last time. Even though I might just make things worse…I can't just leave things like this. It would hurt Trevor to know I'm going to see Dave, but I have to do it. If he cares about me he'll understand. I mean, he seemed to take it pretty well when I told him about the kiss.

Fuck. That kiss.

* * *

><p>I'm immediately on my guard when I get to Dave's house and start up the walk. The door's open. That's not normal.<p>

Is he leaving already? Moving stuff out to the car? No, no sign of that.

"Dave? Mr. L?" No answer from inside or out.

I step to the side and scan the outside of the house. Nothing looks suspicious. Maybe his dad is just doing something.

I walk up to the threshold and that's when I almost lose my shit. I see the shoes first then the body they're attached to. I start to panic and my breathing is coming in quick gasps until I get past the door.

I hate myself for it, but the first emotion I feel well up through my body like a storm is relief. It's not him. It's not Dave.

Fuck. That's when the tears come. It's Mr. Lizewski lying in the middle of a blood soaked carpet.

I run to his side and check his pulse, but there's nothing. His body is cold. He's been like this for a while. I choke out a short sob and then fight back the tears. This isn't the time to lose it. I calm myself and get clinical as much as it tears me up inside.

There's a gunshot wound to the abdomen. Small calibre by the looks of it. No other obvious injuries. Fuck, poor Mr. Lizewshi bled out on his living room floor. Someone is going to die a fucking horrible death, assuming I get to them before Dave. Dave! Where the fuck is he?

I look up to search for another body, for signs of a struggle, anything. That's when I see the message. They definitely wanted me to see it right away.

It's scrawled on the wall in front of me in streaked blood: PAYBACK'S A BITCH. COME FIND HIM

I clench my fists and almost scream. No, this can't be happening! How did this happen? How did they find him? Fuck! Someone is going to die…and it won't be my Dave!

* * *

><p><em>September 2013 – the Past<em>

Dave saw her blonde head walk by in the hall and his heart constricted a little. He wanted to walk over and talk to her so bad, but he knew he shouldn't.

He missed her even though he still saw her every day…after school. They still had their weekly tutoring sessions too and at least one lunch a week just to show everyone they weren't going to stop all contact just because of the rumours.

The rumours that he still heard every day even after the long summer. The sniggers and sly looks. He felt worse for her and part of him just wanted to just leave: drop it all and leave the school so she didn't have to deal with it anymore, but he knew that really wouldn't work and anyway she'd probably just hunt him down and drag him back. The thought made him smile…the first smile he'd had in a while.

That's when the boy walked up to her at her locker and they started to talk. He was vaguely familiar and Dave thought he might have seen him hanging around Katie's little coterie of popular kids back in the day…yeah he was definitely some kind of jock. Dave was surprised when Mindy didn't immediately tell him to get lost. He didn't know she had any friends her own age, certainly not any on the jock squad. She actually smiled at something he was saying before she turned back to her locker after he sauntered off down the hall.

Dave turned away, back to his own locker, and tried to identify the strange feeling he was suddenly feeling in the pit of his stomach. It was uncomfortable, but he shrugged it off. He had been feeling like his stomach was going to crawl out of his body for the past few months anyway: every time he thought about Katie and her spiteful hate campaign against him. Fuck, even Marty and Todd were keeping their distance - without looking like they were keeping their distance - but he could tell. He was anathema, a real leper now. He decided to pick up some more Tums on the way home. It was a patrol night and the last thing he needed was to have his gut nagging at him while he was out on the streets.

* * *

><p>"So, making new friends?"<p>

Hit-Girl turned from where she was scanning the streets below to give him a puzzled look. "Huh?"

Kick-Ass shrugged. "I dunno, just saw you at your locker this morning talking to some dude."

A fleeting smile passed over Hit-Girl's lips before she gave him her own shrug. "Oh, that's just Trevor."

"Trevor? From the jock squad? Soccer, isn't it? I didn't know you were hanging with…them."

Hit-Girl rolled her eyes. "Don't worry about it he's not tight with those losers. We're just casual friends. I just met him over the summer and we kinda got to talking."

"You did?" Dave couldn't keep the shock out of his voice.

"Yeah…I'm allowed to talk to people aren't I?"

"Sure. Of course. I just…I dunno, I just thought you didn't have too much time for kids in your class."

Mindy gave him a pointed look before turning back to the street. "Yeah well, I've had a lot of time free up for me at school so I figured I might as well get to know some people. That ok with you?"

"Sure," he said, ignoring the sarcasm dripping off of her final statement. "What's on the program for tonight?"

"Should be easy, just a drug pusher and his crew left dangling from the Morgeti fallout. I also want to check out Crown Heights, there's been increased muggings there recently."

"Sounds good," he said trying to stop wondering about this new friend of hers and how the heck they could have met. Why hadn't she said anything about it before now? How close were they? Why did he care? He decided it wasn't worth worrying about. Not right now anyway, they had more important things to take care of.

* * *

><p><em>May 2014 – the Present<em>

I wake up to searing agony. Even the damaged nerve endings aren't helping much. I think I must have at least two cracked ribs and my knee is flaring in pain where it was bashed in with a nightstick. At least I don't even notice the pain in my wrists and ankles where the shackles have been digging into my flesh anymore.

I grit my teeth and try to clear my mind of the fog of pain but I'm not managing to focus too well. I can hear something at the door though, looks like I woke up just in time for another 'session'. Fuck I'm just lucky as shit these days aren't I?

Right on cue the door opens and Chris saunters in whistling. There are two beefy guys flanking him, but I don't know why he bothers. Even if I could get down off this wall I wouldn't even be able to stand let alone do anything to him. I guess it's just to make a point. He's the big man with the money and the men and I'm just the fucker who killed his dad.

That immediately makes me think of my own dad. He must be dead. I haven't heard anything, but why would Chris keep him alive? Actually I can think of a few reasons why he might and so I actually hope he is gone so he can be spared whatever suffering this shit bag could come up with. The thought of it makes the anger flow through my body again and the pain lessens as I let the rage consume me.

I have no doubt in Chris' twisted little mind of pain and privilege he thinks this is all justified: quid pro quo, but his father was a murdering scum bag who got what he deserved, my dad was just a good man trying to live his life and raise his son alone. My dad didn't deserve this. He didn't deserve a son who got him murdered by a shitty little asshole and the thought fills me with an agony less physical, but no less painful than what I woke up to. I'm just glad I won't have to live with it for long.

"Hey Dave how you feeling? I gotta say you're looking a little worse for wear."

He smirks as he gives me the once over. I can only imagine what I look like. I manage a small smile through bloody teeth. "Sorry about that Chris, the hospitality around here isn't really up to snuff so I haven't been able to keep up appearances."

Chris' grin widens. "Nice. I really admire the bravado. Right up to the end, huh?"

I just glare at him.

"Of course I'll keep you around until your little partner shows up. I definitely don't want you missing out on what I have in store for her."

"Quit fooling yourself Chris. You'll never get your filthy hands on Hit-Girl."

He grimaces. "I *have* been a little stumped by her lack of attendance. I mean she *is* your partner right? I left her a pretty clear message that even a little gash like her should be able to figure out. I mean I'm not the Riddler…I don't want to misdirect her on purpose."

I just glare at him. I have to admit that I actually thought Mindy might show up. I'm glad that she hasn't, I don't want her anywhere near this psycho, but a small selfish part of me worries that maybe she's not here for reasons other than not having seen Chris' message or being unable to find him.

"Actually that reminds me I came up with a little something to pass the time…a kind of homage to 'The Killing Joke' I guess. Enjoy!"

With that he snaps his fingers and an overhead projector I didn't even know was in the room switches on and the wall in front of me is filled with images of my dad bleeding out on the living room floor. For the first few minutes all I can do is stare in horror as picture after picture flashes before me. Some from a distance, some close up; some of the bullet wound, others of the agony on his face. I clench my eyes shut suddenly and grit my teeth as a small whimper escapes me.

"Ah, ah, ah," chides Chris, "none of that now."

My eyes fly open as one of his thugs bashes me on my injured knee and the agony flares through my body.

"You have to watch or you get punished 'Kick-Ass'."

I choke back a sob as I glare at him before wearily looking at the wall in front of me and trying to blur the images until they are as meaningless as my life has become.

* * *

><p><em>February 2014 – the Past<em>

"So what do you think?"

Mindy did a twirl and the skirt of her purple dress flared up around her. Her long blonde hair was draped over her shoulders and she even had make-up on – a rarity for Mindy. To say Dave was dumbfounded would be an understatement. He thought she'd never looked so beautiful; or to be more precise he realized that she'd always been incredibly beautiful and he was just seeing it fully for the first time.

She stopped her twirl and looked at him with concern on her face. "What's wrong? Is it not ok? Too much?"

"What?! No! No, it's…it's beautiful," he managed to stutter out amidst his confusion. "You're beautiful."

Her smile was dazzling and she giggled with pleasure at his compliment. "Sixteen! Can you believe it? I felt like I'd never get here."

"Yup, sweet sixteen. What were you anxious about though? I didn't think you'd be fixating over a birthday." He had a sympathetic smile as he watched her stroll across her bedroom.

Mindy shrugged. "I dunno, normally I don't care about shit like birthdays, but this one's different. Somehow now I feel…I dunno, I feel like I'm not a kid anymore. I'm a woman."

Her words hit him like a truck and all he could do was nod in agreement. She certainly was a young woman now and there was no way he could even pretend that he didn't notice anymore.

"Yeah…so I was wondering…"

She looked up as he trailed off. "Yeah? What's up?"

"After the party…we're still on for a patrol right? I mean, I know it's your birthday and all…"

"Psshhh, are you kidding?! Of course we're going on patrol, that's always the best part of my day! You think I wouldn't include it as part of my celebration?!"

"Just making sure," he answered with a smile. "I kind of…well, I have a surprise for you."

Her eyes lit up. "Oh?! What is it? Have you found a really juicy crime for us to stomp on?"

"Um no, not quite. It's…well, it's a surprise. You're just going to have to wait until tonight."

She smirked as she punched him on the shoulder. "A surprise, huh? Ok, I'll play since it *is* my birthday…but it better be good!"

His smile wavered a bit. "Yeah…I uh…I hope you like it too."

* * *

><p>Dave was nervous all through Mindy's birthday party. He barely talked to anyone except for a few words with Marty and didn't even touch the cake. His stomach kept clenching and unclenching in nervousness. He'd never felt this way before, even with Katie. This could be the best night of his life or it could all go horribly wrong and blow up in his face. He had to try though…he couldn't leave things as they were.<p>

He didn't get much time with Mindy. Part of it was not wanting to undo their "just friends" vibe in front of other people from school, but it didn't help that that douchebag Tyler wouldn't leave her side all night. He'd been horning in more and more on her time lately, but Dave had let it go with only a few snide comments. He'd always said she should have more friends her own age so how could he really complain? He had just thought they would be girls.

Still…he was pretty chummy for a casual friend and if Dave didn't know any better he'd have thought something was going on there. Well, the little putz would just have to back off. Dave just needed to bide his time for the rest of the party and then he'd have her undivided attention out on patrol.

Finally the party was over and Dave surreptitiously left with Marty after wishing Mindy a final happy birthday and giving her a quick wink. He made excuses to Marty and then headed for the safe house to get ready for patrol.

Dave had his suit on and was holding his mask when Mindy burst into the safe house, still wearing her dress and twirling to unheard music.

"Wasn't it a great party Dave? Did you have fun?"

"Yeah sure, it was great. I guess I don't need to ask if *you* had fun."

She grinned at him. "I guess you don't…it was awesome!" She sighed and then headed for the change room to put on her uniform. "I'll be out in a sec," she called. After a second her head popped out from behind the wall. "And I haven't forgotten about your surprise you know!"

She grinned evilly as she popped back behind the wall and Dave smiled at the same time that his pulse quickened. "Yup, I know…don't worry!"

A few minutes later she came out from the change room in her Hit-Girl costume. He'd seen her in it hundreds, if not thousands, of times before, but somehow tonight it looked different. It was just as dangerous, just as inspiring, but it was beautiful too. It was perhaps the truest expression of her that any external veneer could give and that made it special. It was something just between them, something only he got to see and know it was part of Mindy. Only Dave got to see her as she really was.

"What are you looking at?" she asked after the awkward pause that followed her arrival in the room.

"Um, shit, nothing…sorry. You ready to go?"

She gave him a puzzled look then shrugged and nodded. "Let's rock!"

They hit the city with more energy and excitement than either of them had felt for a while. Mindy was still riding the high of her milestone birthday party and Dave was cruising on adrenaline fueled by nervousness. They took out three separate muggings before Dave finally worked up the nerve to steer them to his final destination.

He had managed to make it seem like a natural progression of their patrol so he didn't think Mindy was suspecting anything, though he could tell she was starting to get curious about his surprise.

The rooftop they came to was one that had been part of the very first patrol they had ever done together, though he wasn't sure if Mindy would remember that. It had a startling view of Manhattan and the lights spread out across the city twinkled like so many stars.

Once Dave stopped Mindy turned to look at him. "What's up? Aren't we going to keep on with the patrol? We don't need to stop already, the night is still young!"

"Yeah I know, um…I just wanted to show you something."

"Oh, ok."

Dave started walking to where a low wall blocked the view of the far side of the rooftop when Mindy called out to him.

"Hey wait, before you do that I wanted to talk to you about something."

"Um, yeah?" he asked turning around, surprised to see that she was apparently nervous.

"What's up?" he asked, immediately concerned.

"Oh, nothing's wrong," she replied, catching on to his tone, "I just have some news."

"Oh, ok. What news?"

"Well…gee this is awkward. I don't know why, it just feels weird talking to you about shit like this."

"Shit like what?"

Mindy heaved a heavy sigh and then plunged onward. "Well, I guess you saw how much I was hanging out with Trevor tonight, right?"

"Um, yeah…I kinda did," replied Dave with a sinking feeling in his stomach. His mind frantically kicked his worries to the side. This wouldn't happen. Not tonight. Not now.

"Yeah sorry about that. I wanted to spend more time with you…I mean you're my best friend! I just thought you'd want to keep up the pretence in front of all those people from school."

Dave heaved a mental sigh of relief. Maybe this was going to be ok after all. "Yeah, no problem Min, I totally understand," he said as he turned back to continue walking towards his destination.

"And, um…Trevor and I are kind of dating!" she cried out in a jumble, as if anxious to get it all out now in one go.

Dave stopped dead and it felt like his heart had stopped beating for a minute.

"Dave?"

He shook himself free of the momentary stupor and pasted a fake smile on his face as he turned around. "You…um, you're dating Trevor? Wow."

"Yeah," she said with a slight giggle. "I know right? Who'd have ever thought Hit-Girl would end up with a boyfriend…and one so hot too!"

"B-boyfriend?!" stammered Dave. "Oh. So this, um, this is serious?"

Mindy shrugged. "Yeah I guess it is. I mean we've only been 'dating' for a few weeks, but we've been hanging out for a few months now so it feels like we've known each other forever! It's almost like with you and me!"

Dave swallowed. "Almost…almost like you and me. Wow. Um, a few weeks? How come you didn't tell me about this?"

Mindy had the grace to look abashed. "I know, I really should have. I just felt weird you know? After all that crap with Katie and then this last year being so…difficult. I guess I just didn't know how to tell you. You ok?" she said apparently finally registering the shocked look on his face.

He shook his head. "No, yeah, great. Um, well congratulations I guess."

She smiled. "Thanks Dave. I knew I could always count on your support. You're my best friend you know."

He smiled weakly. "Yeah…you too Mindy. You too."

"So," she asked, looking around the rooftop, "what's up? Why are we here anyway? You mentioned you wanted to show me something?"

"Oh! Right. That. Um, no I got all turned around. I think it was over somewhere else. Huh, sorry about that."

She looked at him oddly, but then shrugged. "O-kay…where to next?"

"Um, your call birthday girl. I think we should do whatever you want…whatever makes you happy."

She grinned. "That's what I like to hear! C'mon then I got some intel on a sweet illegal import ring that has loose ties to the D'Amico family and I definitely want to fuck them up! Oh…and what was the surprise?"

"Oh that. You know what? I think I want to give it to you later…is that ok?"

Her grin was smug. "Sure thing Dave…I can always give you some extra time to get what you need."

"Yeah thanks," he said as he steered her away from the direction of the low wall. As they continued on their patrol he made a mental note to come back and remove the evidence. It looked like there was no more need for a fully laid out table with candlelight and chilled champagne that sat on a terrace overlooking the twinkling city lights anymore…or the single red rose that lay on one of the plates.


	8. Chapter 8

_May 2014 – the Present_

I leave Dave's house closing the door behind me. I don't have time to take care of Mr. Lizewski's body, as much as it guts me to leave him lying there. I'm sorry Mr. L., but I need to find your son and I can't let anything stop me. The last thing I need is the police looking into this and getting in my way.

I decide not to take the time to go to the safe house. It's too far out of my way and I have an extra suit and some equipment stashed at home. Speed is of the fucking essence and I already know where I need to start looking anyway.

I'm shocked when I jog up the walkway to my house and see Trevor standing at the front door.

"Hey Mindy," he says with a smile which immediately leaves his face when he sees the look on mine. "What's wrong?"

I grab his arm as I unlock the door and lead him inside. "Not here. Come on."

I glance around just to confirm that Marcus isn't at home. Satisfied I lead Trevor upstairs to my room. When we get inside I close the door and turn to him grasping him in a strong hug. He's taken aback at first but then settles into it, hugging me back.

"C'mon sweet thing, what's wrong?"

I actually break down and start to sob. "Oh fuck Trevor! God, something horrible's happened!"

He strokes my back and I actually start to feel a little better. "Shh, shh, what's the matter?"

I take a gulping breath of air and choke back my tears. There's no time for this little girl shit, I have a fucking job to do. I reluctantly extricate myself from his embrace and wipe my eyes as I look at him. "It's Mr. Lizewski. He's dead. I…I found him at his house and Dave…" I take another gulping sigh, "Dave's not there."

Trevor's face goes blank. "What?"

"I know," I say, shaking my head. "It's fucking insane. I…I went there to talk to Dave." I look at Trevor, worried how he might react, but he still seems to be in shock at what I've told him so I rush past it. "The door was open. I walked in and saw…fuck, I saw Mr. Lizewski lying on the floor dead." I put my hand to my eyes and rub them. I will not cry again. I won't.

"And Dave…he wasn't there?" says Trevor finally.

I shake my head. "No, but…" I heave yet another sigh, "but they left me a message."

"They?" says Trevor anxiously. "A…a message? What do you mean?"

My voice goes quiet, almost a whisper. "In blood. Mr. L.'s blood...at least I think it was his. They took him, they took Dave, and they told me to come find him."

"Told you?" asks Trevor in confusion. "What do you mean they told *you*?"

"I mean that it was a message meant for me – for Hit-Girl. Somehow someone found out about Dave's secret identity and they went after him."

I hadn't noticed before, but Trevor's face is getting whiter and whiter as I tell him the story.

"Well you…you can't go after them! Who-whoever 'they' are. It's just too dangerous!"

"Fuck that! I know exactly who they are and I am getting my Dave back!"

"*Your* Dave?!"

"Fuck Trevor there's no time for this, you know what I mean. He's my partner…my goddam best friend and if you think Hit-Girl is going to let him get hurt, let him…" I choke on the word, "…die, then you don't know me very well."

As he looks back at me I can't identify what's in his eyes: anger; hurt. But there's something else lurking in the background. A thought jumps unbidden into my head and twists my gut like a knife. I don't want to say it, don't want to open my mouth, but I can't stop myself.

"The only one who would have – who could have – done this is Chris D'Amico. This is payback plain and simple and if anyone wants us this badly it's him. The only thing I can't figure out is how he knew Dave was Kick-Ass. We've been careful…very careful since the beginning. Why would he come back *now* of all times? How could he figure it out? And why didn't he find *me*?"

Trevor's actually got a great poker face, but I see the thing that passes behind his eyes and something inside me dies a violent death. Tears are starting again and I shake my head as I step away from him.

"No. No, no, no, no, no…NO!"

He doesn't even try to deny it. Maybe he knows better than to try and fuck with me…again.

"Mindy, I didn't know! I mean I knew who Chris D'Amico was, but he seemed…I mean you always said…he came across like such a whimpy loser! I thought….fuck, I just thought he'd scare Dave a bit…let him know he knew…give him a real reason to leave town for good. I didn't think…didn't mean…"

Trevor steps back when he sees my face, his eyes widen in shock. I cover the distance between us in a heartbeat and grab him by the shirt, slamming him against the wall and pinning him there. Almost without thinking I pull my balisong from my pocket, twirl it and hold the blade to his throat.

"You fucking Judas!" I shout, tears of anger and frustration streaming down my face. "He was my partner, he was my…my…my…FUCK! Give me one good reason why I shouldn't just kill you now!" My knife blade is pressed so closely to his throat that a tiny trickle of blood starts to seep out from beneath it.

There's real terror in his eyes now and part of me regrets that deeply. The rest of me though? It takes it as the tiniest bit of payback for the fucking horror show this fucker has caused in my life. How could I have been so stupid, so blind? How could I have let this happen all for the sake of a fucking boy?

"Please!" he squeaks, "I did it for you! For us! I love you Mindy. I just wanted to have a clean break, a chance for us to really be together without Dave hanging over us!"

I continue to stare at him and my hand brings the knife closer to his eye. I am so tempted to pop it out like a ripe fruit. After all we've done with each other, all we've meant to each other over the past year and now all I want to do is kill him like an animal.

I look away for a minute and close my eyes. I let myself think about my time with Trevor in the hopes that it will bring out my better feelings, but all it does is make me feel sick. "I can't believe I let you touch me," I whisper. I turn back to look him in the eyes. "You're either a selfish asshole with massive self-esteem issues or an evil mother fucker. Either way I ought to just gut you and put an end to your misery!"

He looks at me desperately. "Mindy! Please…listen to me: it doesn't have to be like this. I *love* you, I really do! We have the chance at a normal life. We can leave town, leave all this crap behind. My family has more than enough money to take care of us. We can live anywhere we want, be anything we want. I love you as much as him…more. He can't give you what I can! He'll never be normal!"

"Do you even know me?! Listen to yourself! A normal life? Money to run away? Fuck, I have millions stashed away Trevor. I don't need your fucking blood money! I need someone who understands me – who loves *me*. I need someone who protects the innocent, not betrays them to death for his own selfish ends."

"Oh and Dave didn't want you for himself? He wasn't trying to get you back the minute he saw you with me…saw that you could be happy outside of the freak show he'd made your life into?"

"Dave's never done anything but support me! He didn't create my life, but he always made it better. If anything he's tried to help me be 'normal', to give me a balance to keep me from going over the edge."

He glances at the room around him and then at the knife in my hand and a nervous giggle escapes his lips. "Heh, hehehehe. I guess he didn't do such a good job, huh?"

The giggles stop as quickly as they began and he wipes his arm across his face where tears have started. Whether they're tears of fear or sadness I don't know. I don't care. His face is serious as he tries to justify himself again. Of course he only makes things worse.

"I didn't tell Chris about *you*Mindy. I would *never* do that!"

"Fuck Trevor, do you think that even matters to me now?! Mr. Lizewski is dead. *Dead* Trevor! An innocent man is lying on the floor of his living room in his own blood because of what you did! And who knows what the fuck is happening to Dave…who knows if he's even *alive*?!"

Anger replaces some of the fear in his eyes. "Dave, Dave, Dave! It always comes back to fucking Dave doesn't it? Why can't you let that loser go?"

I slam him up against the wall again. "Loser? Loser! Did you just call him a loser?! That man has more courage and heart than a…a little boy like you could even comprehend! He was my only friend once and he's done…" I stop for a second, remembering all the times I've had with him, all the things he's done with me - for me. "…he's done more for me than anyone else. Even my daddy."

"Is that why you kissed him…while you were dating me?! Because he's 'done so much for you'?"

I look at Trevor in disbelief. "Are you fucking shitting me? A kiss? A fucking kiss?! You gave away the biggest secret of a man's life…you got his father killed…you got him captured by a goddam psychopath…because of a kiss?!"

"Psychopath? Hah! Dave Lizewski is a fucking psychopath! He's a goddam pedophile freak who took a vulnerable girl from a bad situation and fed her psychosis because he wanted to fuck her! You think he *cared* about you? He just wanted to make you a dependant freak he could use as a part-time fuck-buddy after he got dumped by the captain of the cheerleaders! He's nothing but a pathetic loser and a creepy predator!"

I am so overcome with my rage as I picture the smug look on his face as he gave up my Dave's secret to our worst enemy that my knife flashes out before I'm even fully aware of what I'm doing. His eye pops out with a wet sound and flies onto the floor, immediately followed by his high pitched scream.

I'm almost shocked as I seem him bending over in agony, his hands clutching at his eye socket, but as I search my feelings I realize I don't regret the action at all. I step forward and grab him by the shirt, forcing him upright and slamming him against the wall. "You don't get to talk about him like that!"

"You know what?" I say to him my voice slow and even, just above a whisper, but it's enough to cut through his whimpers. "You're right. It's all true: I love him, I really do, and I will do anything to protect him. But I would never have done anything to hurt you Trevor. When I thought you actually loved me; when I thought you were a human being; when I thought you were something other than a delusional manipulator. I was willing to try and move beyond what I felt for Dave- with you. Fuck…I didn't even kiss him, *he* kissed *me*…and I told you about it because I didn't want to live with lies and regrets. You know what though? Trying to be truthful to you? That was a lie. Trying to move on and live without Dave? That is a regret. If all you can do is repay my honesty with anger and betrayal then you can go fuck yourself!"

I step away, looking at him sadly as he slides down the wall.

"So what now?" he asks, his voice shaky and wracked with sobs as one hand still clutches at his eye. "You going to kill me Hit-Girl?"

I watch him from beneath hooded eyes for a few minutes; might as well let him sweat a bit.

"I'd really like to, it's no more than you deserve. I've done worse to people who've done less. You've hurt me in a way that even Chris D'Amico couldn't. You've hurt me in a way I haven't been hurt since my daddy died."

He tries to crawl backwards, but the wall blocks him.

"But I won't. I don't even know why, but I'm going to let you live. Maybe I'm weak or sentimental…maybe I just hope that something between us was real." My eyes harden. "Maybe I just don't want my shoes covered in your shit." He flinches at that.

I step towards him, crowding him against the wall even more. "Maybe I just want you to suffer. You can believe this though: if I *ever* see you again. If I get a breath on the wind that someone has heard about me or Dave because of you then I will hunt you down and you *will* die…very slowly and very painfully. I promise you that." I point with my balisong to where his eyeball lies on my bedroom floor. "I think you can take me at my word, don't you?"

I step back. "Do we understand each other?"

He doesn't answer me, but the wet mark starting to creep across the front of his pants lets me know the message was received.

"You'll make a fucking great pair!" he screams. "Psychos in love, how sweet!" He turns around then and scrambles for the bedroom door. He pulls himself up and rips it open, stumbling away as I close my eyes. I pray that it's the last time I ever see Trevor Ames again.

* * *

><p>I go as quickly as I can, but I'm hampered by the fact that I'm carrying my spare uniform and some equipment in a pack on my back and I don't have any transport faster than my own damn feet. The beautiful purple motorcycle I recently invested in on a whim is at the safe house and Marcus took the car with him to work. I can only hope that I'm making the right guess based on what I know and can get to Dave in time.<p>

Ironically I think I can rely upon Chris' hate-on for us to keep Dave safe – or at least alive. He wouldn't have left such an obvious clue for me unless he wanted me to find him and I can only assume that means he wants me there for whatever end game he has in mind.

I still have to fight down the panic that keeps threatening to overwhelm me though. This is nothing like any other mission I've been on save one…and that one ended in tragedy even though I thought I was in time. My mind keeps jumping between the look on my daddy's face that night he died in my arms and the look on Dave's face when I last saw him, when I told him to leave and twisted the knife in his gut.

Shit, am I crying again? Fuck that noise Hit-Girl! Get some fucking control of yourself! The most important person left in your life is relying on you not to lose your shit, so keep it fucking together. The last thing Dave needs is for you to get captured on the doorstep of the fucking villain. You can cry like a pansy all you want after it's done…right now you need to focus.

I suddenly realize that I do have an option and I curse myself for the two blocks of extra running I'll have to do for not thinking of it sooner. I immediately turn around and run for Dave's house. His dad's car was just sitting in the driveway and I can hotwire that piece of shit as easy as pie.

Coming back to the house I stop dead for a minute. Knowing what's behind the door gives me pause, not because I'm afraid of it, but because it leaves a gaping hole in my heart when I think about what Dave has lost…what I could lose.

I shake it off and walk to the car. I easily pop the lock on the driver side door before sliding into the seat. I look around, hoping that no one is watching me. It could lead to some uncomfortable questions once the cops find the body, but at this point I don't care too fucking much about consequences. I've got to get to Dave and I have to do it quickly. This is my only option. I'll worry about the fallout later. That's my best case scenario.

I pop the cover off the steering wheel base and find the wires I need pretty quickly. A little flick of the wrists and…sweet. I wouldn't exactly call it a purr, but any response from the car is music to my ears. Now I know I can make it in time.

* * *

><p><em>May 2014 – The Present<em>

I come to groggily. There is additional pain in my side and my wrists are starting to throb again. I try to push myself up with my legs to ease the pain, but my knee flares up into excruciating agony and I slump back down, causing my wrists to flare up in worse pain. I try to look around, but everything is shadowed by a red haze. I wonder if it's my emotional state until I realize that it's sticky…apparently there's blood dripping into my eyes. I guess I have a new wound I forgot about. Fuck, I am not in good shape.

I keep having flashbacks to Chris' slideshow and they are merging with my actual memories of what happened in my house. My dad is dead. I killed him.

There is a sharp spark of anger deep inside me. A rage that I know will be with me forever and never die and I grasp onto it, holding to it for strength, the only anchor I can find in the midst of the chaos my life has become. I think I finally know how Mindy must have felt when her father was killed. I had thought I understood her before, but I realize now that I've only ever glimpsed a fraction of the pain she must have felt. My heart bleeds for her and I recall with remorse all of my trite attempts at making the situation seem better than it was, at trying to convince her that there was some rational response to the situation she was in.

Now I know that the only response is unthinking anger and vengeance. Unfortunately I also know that I am going to die. I don't know how much longer I can hang on, but as long as Mindy stays out of Chris' grasp I can die in relative peace. My only regret is being unable to take a piece of him with me…and knowing that I've left things in a shambles with her.

The door opens and I sneer at Chris' smiling face.

"Shit Kick-Ass I gotta say – and I mean this as a friend - you look really horrible."

I don't bother dignifying his attempt at banter with a response. I've had enough of that shit and I just want it to end.

"Not too much to say, huh? Well that might change."

I'm finding it hard to concentrate on what's going on. My head is killing me, in addition to all my other aches and pains, and things are sliding in and out of focus. I'm brought sharply to attention when he reaches outside the door and drags in a writhing figure.

"Look who I found skulking around and trying to break in."

The purple hair is what brings things into focus, partially at least, and I nearly scream as I see the petite form of Hit-Girl dragged into the room. She has a gag over her mouth and her mask is slightly askew. She's struggling against Chris, but can't get any purchase. He throws her onto the floor and I see that her hands are tied behind her back. Her face crunches into the floor and I can make out a muffled sob as she writhes on the ground in front of me.

"Let her go you fucking shit bag! Just let her go! Do what you want to me…just let her go!"

"Oh, I've already done what I want to you," Chris says with a maniacal grin, "well – except for this of course!"

I'm starting to babble and my last shouts are drowned out by the tears that are starting to choke up my throat. "Please Chris! I'll do anything, *ANYTHING*, just let her go!" I try to wrench myself free of the wall, but all it results in is a symphony of pain throughout my limbs. "You can't…can't hurt her!"

Chris gives me a wicked grin as he unbuckles his pants and reaches for Hit-Girl's skirt.

"Oh no? Just watch me."

I squeeze my eyes shut and let out a howl that makes even Chris stop for a second. After the scream is gone, my throat raw, Chris murmurs to me. "Open your eyes Kick-Ass…do it! I promise you I will make this worse for her if you don't."

I open my eyes and try to swallow the bile that's rising in my throat. I pray to the rage to engulf me, to take me away from this horror show. My voice is almost quiet and calm…dangerously so even through the tears. "I swear Chris, I swear I will come back from the dead if I have to. I will wreak vengeance on you. Hurt that girl and I won't rest until I twist you inside out and make everything you've done to me, and her, look like amateur hour."

"Wow, that's dark Kick-Ass," he mutters, "are you going all Dark Knight on me now? Well, let's give you a reason to, huh?"

I scream again.


End file.
